


Meet Me in the Middle

by honeyharperofficial284



Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: F/F, Gen, also its gay because i said so, this is my self indulgent second gen au and youre gonna like it, you may have your token cishet white boy and go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:47:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 35
Words: 93,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27607822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyharperofficial284/pseuds/honeyharperofficial284
Summary: This is a second gen au where Nova and Adrian's daughter, Rosetta, doesn't have powers (sort of) and is in love with Ellie, Ruby and Oscar's daughter, and handles everything in the worst way possible because she is a gay disaster of a teenager. This was originally posted on tumblr but I'm not posting it here finally. Also originally Rosetta was named Lacey but I changed it half way through for so if you see the name Lacey it's just Rosetta.
Relationships: Danna Bell | Monarch/Narcissa Cronin, Nova Artino | Nightmare/Adrian Everhart | Sketch, Oscar Silva | Smokescreen/Ruby Tucker | Red Assassin, rosellie
Comments: 10
Kudos: 12





	1. Rosetta Makes One of Many Bad Decisions Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter Summary:
> 
> Rosetta sneaks out and nearly gets caught. Also angst.

Rosetta slid back in through her bedroom window. She didn’t and wouldn’t get caught. She never had been caught before, even if her mom didn’t need to sleep. She didn’t know why this was but unbeknownst to her parents, she had been going to parties and sneaking out often, mostly just to see what she could get away with and how much trouble she could cause at home. And to make out with girls but that was separate from causing trouble.

It amazed Rosetta that she was getting away with so much. Even if her parents knew they would’ve said something by now about sneaking out at least. Part of her wondered if maybe it was any possible powers she had but she had never shown any signs of having abilities besides two freak incidents that happened in middle school that were both so different that they couldn’t have been tied to a power.

Yet Rosetta knew far better about what allowed her to get away with so much. She was the middle child and was rarely around anyways. She went to GATA, Gatlon Artistic Talent Academy, which was about an hour train ride away so she just slept over and did dorm rooming. Additionally at home, no one paid much attention to her unless they wanted something from her or because they had ignored her so much that they knew that they needed to make it up.

Things were always too hectic with her parent’s jobs and Rosetta was never on the front burner since her older sister was a genius and a powerful prodigy who was studying hard to be an engineer and her younger sister was good at school, amazing at sports, and of course an amazing prodigy. In the mean time Rosetta wanted to be a musician and had a large following on TikTok and YouTube due to her videos on her music and the general jokes she made on her own family.

Of course her family was blissfully unaware of her YouTube and TikTok accounts and they did not know about her Spotify account that was gaining momentum under the stage name of Cherry Punch. Despite the bubbly sounding name she was into a lot more of the alternative rock and emo music. But she had been playing instruments since she was six and had years of professional vocal training at GATA and made it work even with a genre that was not the most well loved by people.

As Rosetta finished getting ready for bed, back in pajamas and makeup wiped off, she went to go use the bathroom and opened the door right up to see her mom.

“Why are you up? I’ve heard you walking around for the past hour. You’re not exactly the most subtle,” Nova said, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

“You know sometimes it’s hard for me to sleep. I kind of just walked around for a bit doing things in trying to tire myself out and now I have to pee,” she said calmly.

It wasn’t a false statement. Occasionally, when Rosetta was at school and couldn’t sleep, she’d call her mom and they’d talk and tell each other about their days until she fell asleep once more.

“You know you can just ask me to put you to sleep?”

“I’ll think about it while I pee. I mean come on Mom, what am I hiding? Prodigy abilities? Actually being good in academics?”

Her mom shot her a sympathetic look. “Don’t put yourself down so much,” she warned.

Rosetta just shrugged and went to the bathroom.

She didn’t particularly care what her mom, or anyone for that matter, thought about her. She would do things her own way and realized very quickly that some people, including her sisters and sometimes even her parents, were not going to stand by her.

Rosetta figured out early on that not being a prodigy let her whole family down, even if it was due to her extremely premature birth that she shouldn’t have even survived. Everyone had powers and all of them were incredible and Rosetta could barely pass middle school, let alone stay in one. She did fine in school but her grades sucked compared to her sister’s and she wasn’t exactly a genius nor had much motivation to do better even though she studied, though very frustrated since it was hard for her to focus.

Additionally, she couldn’t even stay in one middle school for more then a year. In sixth grade some eighth grader was bullying her over her mom being Nightmare, saying that if she had powers she would probably kill the whole school because she was a freak like her mom even though all she did was not have powers, suck at school work, sit quietly in the back of class, and being very into music for the most part. Rosetta wasn’t sure what exactly happened but the boxes on top of the locker he had cornered her against toppled down on him and she was blamed. Her parents convinced the school to let her finish the year but school was miserable for the rest of the year, only having her two friends Ellie and Beck to be there for her. She never told anyone what the boy had said to her, knowing that it wouldn’t work in her favor anyways, she had already gotten in trouble a few times trying to fight back.

Instead she just considered herself lucky that she was getting bullied over her parents and not the oxygen pack she had to keep in her backpack, just in case something happened. Another side affect of the premature birth that was somehow still kicking her ass.

Then in seventh grade she thought she’d have a fresh start. She avoided other kids, sticking to herself and just being involved in any music club she could. But then things spiraled down once more and she was bullied for the exact same thing. Rosetta was an easy target, having no powers and being very shy and quiet. And all of the sudden, when the girl had trapped her in a bathroom stall, the water burst out and sprayed the girl so hard that she hit her head and got a concussion. Once again, Rosetta was blamed and moved to a new school eighth grade year even though it was a freak accident.

Yet somehow her sisters managed to find a way to get mad at her about it as if they were the ones being bullied even though Rosetta never said anything about it nor ever bothered to defend herself. But because of the first incident, Valerie, her older sister, got made fun of for the rest of the year, though a very minimal amount, and the school kept a close eye on Eva when she was enrolled and they were ready to accuse her without hesitation in case something happened which, in Rosetta’s opinion, was a better reason to be mad at her for the incident though still a shitty thing to do to your sister.

At the end of her last year in middle school, she decided that if no one was going to stand by her then why care at all what they thought. She applied for GATA despite how hard it was to get in and somehow she made it, her years of cello lessons that she forced her parents to let her take paying off.

It was like a weight had been taken off of her. She was able to room there for the week and she had teachers who encouraged her and normal school work became fun and easier to do. She had actual friends, her roommate of that year Kiki and her both being musicians and getting along like a wild fire. The best part was no one knew who her parents were and if so, left her alone about it entirely. Even better, people didn’t care about her oxygen pack and encouraged and helped her instead, her vocal teacher helping her build stamina to the point where she could sing like a powerhouse without it, though it wasn’t like she had ever needed it for anything since she was six.

It was a wave of freedom and after that, Rosetta just hid more and more things in her life to make sure no one was going to have a chance to ruin it.

She quickly went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth as well as washed her face before going to her bedroom. Her mom was waiting so she could put her to sleep.

Rosetta lied down on her bed, curling up on her blankets and letting her cat Pudge snuggle up with her.

“Night sweetie,” Her mom said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“Night,” Rosetta yawned, falling asleep in seconds, only being able to see her mom close the door before she was out completely.


	2. Lesbian Middle Child Struggles to Do Math

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breakfast with the whole family and math homework with Ellie result in anger and gay panic.

The next morning, the house was full for once but wouldn’t be for much longer as her parents had a weird work schedule, only ever being home on Sundays and working for half days on Wednesday and Saturday.

It was the start of a weekend and another weekend Rosetta couldn’t wait for to end, already itching to go back to GATA and continue her work in private.

Rosetta sat at the barstool, Pudge in her arms. Valerie would be over soon as her college was close enough that she was home on weekends and had a similar school and home life as Rosetta.

“Are you okay Setta? You look tired,” her dad said as he put a plate of blueberry pancakes before her. 

“She had trouble sleeping last night,” Nova said as she came into the kitchen, pressing a kiss to Rosetta and Eva’s heads. She also gave Pudge a quick scratch behind the ear despite her claiming that she didn’t like the cat.

Pudge purred, beginning to reach a paw out to swipe at Rosetta’s food. Rosetta knew better and dropped him on the floor before he could do any damage.

“Go eat your own food. I just filled your bowls and cleaned your liter box,” Rosetta reprimanded. Pudge meowed and went and ate from his bowl. She rolled her eyes. It was typical of her cat. He did it every single morning.

Rosetta ate her pancakes, watching for the clock to turn to 10 for her sister to walk in. The minute hand hit the twelve and immediately the door opened. Valerie came in, bag over her shoulder and smiling.

Both of her parents were happy to see her. They were always so proud of her since she was going into a stereotypical “good” career field, being an engineer and all. That and she was her dad’s favorite and her mom’s second favorite as Rosetta had gathered. Every parent said they didn’t have a favorite kid and the favoritism wasn’t very obvious but when you got the short end of the stick it became apparent.

One example were the blankets their mom had embroidered for them when they were babies. Each one was white with golden borders in a different pattern for each of them, their full names at the bottom. Eva and Valerie’s both had the space inside their borders filled, a beautiful scene that related to their prodigy abilities. Rosetta’s was blank and unfinished and had been for nearly 18 years, sitting in her closet in a box that she buried in the back where she didn’t have to look at it. A reminder of everything she wasn’t and in turn, all the expectations she greatly failed to meet.

“Hey sweetie. How have classes been going?” Nova asked, putting a plate down for Valerie.

“Fine. Professor Kean is getting on my nerves though,” Valerie said, putting her shoes away and setting her bag aside, taking a seat in between Rosetta and Eva at the counter.

“Like what?” Eva asked, finishing her food already.

“Like giving us an essay and presentation to do in a night,” Valerie snorted.

“Well if you need help you can always come to us. We’re always here if you need it,” Adrian said.

And in seconds they all dived into chatter. Rosetta tried to add to it but was shut out, her comments talked over and ignored, so she gave up. She put her things in the dishwasher and went to her room.

She put in her earbuds and called Ellie, beginning to work on homework for her classes, specifically math.

Ellie picked up though admittedly, a little groggy and clearly just waking up now.

“Hey,” Ellie groaned, taking a sip from her water cup and smiling.

It surprised Rosetta. Currently, things between them were…. interesting to say the least. While Rosetta had known her sexuality for a while, dating a few girls in secret, Ellie for the most part, was straight. She said she was debating her sexuality and Rosetta, who had fallen hard for her best friend, let her experiment a little only for her to go date a boy named James a month later and that was last year, Ellie still with James now.

They never talked about it, but it hurt a lot. Rosetta wasn’t sure what made her agree to it when she knew that Ellie wasn’t ever going to return the feelings Rosetta had for her as that was the whole reason Ellie asked her specifically. She wanted to be sure before she actually started dating and thought they were too close as friends to ever be more. Additionally, Rosetta had gotten out of a relationship when they started experimenting, her previous girlfriend having cheated on her for several months.

She was a mess and completely distraught over it and maybe she had just been looking for something to distract her, but she let Ellie kiss her and touch her and do all sorts of things only for her to completely break it off and for them to never bring it up again.

“Are you okay? I can call back later I mean I’m only doing math and just…. looking for company I guess,” Rosetta said but she knew it wasn’t true. She was still head over heels for Ellie despite what had happened and took every chance to call her, acting like it was just their normal friendship which, in fairness it was.

They had been friends since they were babies and talked often, Rosetta having encouraged Ellie to go try out for GATA for their fashion academy and Ellie encouraging her to go for her musical dreams. There was nothing to worry about by calling Ellie. They were best friends and this was what friends did.

Rosetta then hear scratching at her door and opened it to let Pudge in. Immediately he curled up on her lap.

“No no it’s fine. I like hearing your voice. It’s so pretty, singing or not.”

Rosetta laughed to herself as she began her work. It was just doing a few matrix practice problems so it wasn’t hard but it was nice to have someone to help her keep focus as she so often got distracted.

“So what are you doing?” Ellie asked.

“Math. You know I suck at it but it’s just a few matrixes so not too difficult. I just get which rows or columns to use a little mixed up though.”

“Well I’m here for help if you need it, even if I’m a little tired.”

Rosetta laughed. “Did you work all night on your embroidery project?” Ellie nodded and Rosetta sighed. “What did I tell you about getting to bed on time?”

“And what have I told you about sneaking out to parties to have random hookups with girls and to piss off your parents?” Ellie fired back. Rosetta glared.

She was still not over what had happened and often times went to parties to distract herself. A few times she had consumed alcohol or a little drugs and made out with random girls in closets but nothing too bad and nothing too serious.

“Shut up or else my parents will find out,” Rosetta said quietly even though no one could hear Ellie since she had earbuds in.

Ellie hooted with laughter. She knew that Rosetta kept all of her love life secret, not because she was ashamed of being a lesbian but because she just liked having home life completely separate from the rest of her life. It was just easier that way, especially because of the way people treated her due to her parents and the way one kid, Jack Vales, was towards gay kids. Somehow he always got away with it but Rosetta, and her friends who were also queer, weren’t taking any chances and kept their sexualities and gender identities quiet so they didn’t have to risk dealing with him. Rosetta was the most protective over it since she wasn’t going to risk getting kicked out of yet another school and obviously not the one she actually felt welcomed in.

“Yes well how are you supposed to tell them anything?” Ellie joked. Rosetta snorted as she started to write down her answers to her problems.

“Setta!” Someone yelled from downstairs. It was her mom.

“Yeah Mom?”

“Can you come do the dishes please?”

“Can I finish my math homework first?”

“Sure just get it done please.”

Rosetta rolled her eyes. Of course she, the only one who was doing actual work, had to do the chores. They always landed on her when both Valerie and her were home.

Ellie saw the anger starting to rise in Rosetta and immediately went to cool it.

“It’s just some dishes. Not a big deal,” she said.

Rosetta nodded and took a few deep breaths. She had her mom’s temper and was easily ticked off though she wasn't one to shout and get aggressive. She finished her math work, talking with Ellie and listening to her tell her about something that had happened during one of her classes.

Rosetta sighed when she finished her work. She had to do the dishes before she forgot and that meant ending the call.

“I’ve got to go.”

Ellie nodded. “Alright. I’ll see if I can talk to you later but if not I’ll see you at school. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Rosetta said as the call ended. She then put on her music and went downstairs to do the dishes.

“Who were you talking to?” Valerie asked as she passed her in the hall. She was suspicious, clearly hearing the end of the conversation and delighted in the idea of her baby sister not only dating someone, but having a secret boyfriend or girlfriend.

“Ellie. We were doing math together,” Rosetta explained.

“Oh,” Valerie said, a little disappointed.

Rosetta ignored her and went and did the dishes, letting her music drown everything out.


	3. Secret Rooms are for Chaotic People Only

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosetta and her best friend Beck mess around and act like the dumb teenagers they are.

Later that night, Rosetta went into her closet and pushed open one of the built-ins. It swung back revealing a little room that she used for her own devices. Inside was a hammock, a few chairs, and a small TV that she had gotten a hold of through her friend Kiki. There were no lights or windows in it so Rosetta had strung lights everywhere to illuminate it and chose to decorate it with a bunch of old signs that she had gotten once again through Kiki who’s prodigy ability was being able to source anything asked of him. There was also a thousand different memories taped on the walls like her normal room with photos and post cards, tickets and set lists, posters and anything Rosetta wanted being hung up, covering every single wall space that existed.

Occasionally she’d have her friends come over and they’d have a movie night and once again, amazing Rosetta, if anyone knew about the room they said nothing.

Pudge crawled into Rosetta’s lap as she laid down in the hammock and called Beck on her laptop. He lived next door and half the time they just went on the small slivers of roofing outside their windows to talk but right now she didn’t feel like having the whole neighborhood hear her conversation and she needed to get her feelings about Ellie out.

He picked up right away, her screen showing him sitting on a plastic box in a closet strumming his guitar. It was where he always went when they called as their was more privacy there.

Beck was a warming sight with his shoulder length black hair pulled back with a beanie, wearing one of the many flannels he owned. He always dressed similar every day and it was nice to have that as a constant, especially since they had been best friends since they were four years old and were now roommates at GATA.

“Hey! Anything you need to get off your mind?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Beck already knew from her call decision that it was a more private matter and he knew she was going to either go off about her family of go off about Ellie which were her favorite two topics. He was usually fine with both but wasn’t a big fan of Ellie drama because he was friends with her too and she was friends with Ellie as well.

“Why is she so fucking pretty,” Rosetta sighed.

Beck rolled his eyes. “Of course.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Look RJ I love you a lot but I think it’s high time you find a way to get over Ellie or make a move. Otherwise it’s just not happening and you’re just making yourself fell bad.”

“I know,” Rosetta groaned.

Rosetta wanted desperately to get over Ellie. It sucked being in love with your best friend especially when they were probably heterosexual. But since they were best friends and family friends too, they saw each other so often that it made it impossible to get over her.

“Your emotions are not a good influence on you,” Beck said.

“To be fair I’m not a good influence on you but for some reason you still keep me around.”

“Well obviously,” he snorted. “Where would I be without you.”

“In hell. I don’t know. I’m not a physic.”

“Well you’re definitely going to hell.”

“This is homophobia and I will NOT stand for it.”

The video then paused on her. When Beck came back he had a muffin in one hand and a sealed plastic bag filled with muffins in the other.

“So my mom made chocolate cherry muffins.”

“Do I get any?”

“That’s why I have a plastic bag filled but come to the roof and I’ll give you some.”

“Yes!” Rosetta cheered. Beck’s mom always made the best muffins.

Rosetta set Pudge and her laptop aside, running to the window in her bedroom and throwing it open. She sat on the edge of the roof, watching eagerly as Beck slipped out of his room with muffins. She reached out to take one but he pulled back.

“You must earn a muffin. Entertain me and you may have one,” Beck informed her.

“I think this counts as prostitution but alright. Give me a second.”

She went into her room and grabbed her cello. She had never played it on her roof but it was worth a shot. Carefully, she put it through her window and settled on the roof, leaning back with her instrument against her and between her knees.

Beck was howling with laughter as she began to play. She played Toxic by Britney Spears, his favorite song to force her to play on it. Whenever she pulled out her cello he always asked for it so she learned to play for him.

Rosetta was trying not to laugh herself. The vibrations of her instrument felt so weird and she thought that she would giggle so much that she and her cello would roll right off the roof. Of course Beck would catch her right away.

Like everyone else in the world, all her friends were prodigies. Ellie could manipulate air, letting her do anything from flying to making someone stop breathing, and then Kiki could find anything asked of her. Then there was Meg who could raise the dead, Lana who could change anyone’s hair in any way including her own, and Beck who could form shields anywhere he wanted. He used them for all sorts of things and could easily catch Rosetta with it.

“Okay okay. You know what take a few muffins you earned it. Didn’t even know it was possible to play the cello lying down on the roof,” Beck cackled.

“I am a woman of many talents and while producing a coherent thought is not one of them apparently playing the cello on the roof is,” Rosetta laughed before she put her cello back in her room through the window. She slid to the edge of the roof and collected her prize.

She ripped a piece of her muffin off and took out her phone, ready to record.

“Hey BeLo!” She yelled. It was the nickname she gave him when they were little, a shortened version of Beck Logan which was his first and middle name. “Catch,” she said, tossing it when he looked at her. His head jutted out but he caught it and munched away.

The two of them had an ongoing competition of who could catch food in their mouths both the most amount and in the coolest way. This really wasn’t one meant to be judged on how cool it was based on the fact that it didn’t take much effort but it was still one for the tally.

Beck then did the same thing that she did for him, ripping off a chunk and throwing it at her. She caught it like every time.

“Now we’re even,” Beck said. “Both in muffins and catches. Since we both sent each other one I think it should make it null and void.”

“Well I already recorded both so we can just add it to the tally but it won’t make a difference.”

“Fair enough.”

By the time Rosetta and Beck had finished messing around on the roof, her parents had already told her to go to bed. It had been a while ago too. She said she would only be another minute, her parents trusting her on that statement for some reason, but instead she stayed out on the roof for another half hour.

She was about to go in when they told her but she stayed out a little longer to spite them. Rosetta was normally the child that didn’t break the rules, was quiet and complicit. Lately she had started to do the opposite of that, no longer caring about their expectations for her and purposely trying to cause havoc.

However, as she went back inside, she was tired, moving at a slug like pace to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She was relatively quiet as she walked through the hall and as she passed her parents room on her way back she heard her name mentioned.

Rosetta froze and listened more.

“she’s a disappointment,” one of them said, finishing a sentence. She couldn’t quite tell who was speaking since she wasn’t going to get too close in case she needed to make an escape.

“I know but her powers have to come eventually,” the other parent said.

Rosetta didn’t need to hear any more and went right to her room, trying not to cry. Of course they were talking about her powers and of course it had to do with her being a disappointment. That’s all her family ever seemed to know about her and that’s all that seemed to matter to them too. She didn’t have powers like everyone else.

Aside from herself, her uncle Max was the only person in the world who didn’t have powers and even then he gave his up for a noble cause. He did something heroic to enable him to not be a prodigy. Rosetta was just born like that.

And it was for that reason that she let everyone down, even though it was far from her fault that she was born so premature. Once the happiness that she was alive wore off it suddenly seemed to matter that she wasn’t a prodigy a lot.

She did her best to impress them in other ways but it didn’t really seem to matter. It was why she had stopped trying to behave and just started to cause problems. It seemed like the things that made her happy, like GATA and music, were the things her parents didn’t necessarily give her praise for or really approve of either. If they were going to peg her as a disappointment then she was going to give them a disappointment. And then she was going to work her ass off for what she wanted so she could leave all together.

Rosetta went to her closet for pajamas and spotted her blank baby blanket. It just made her more upset. It was incomplete because she wasn’t a prodigy. That was the only reason it was unfinished. Her sister’s were filled with things related to their abilities but Rosetta’s was blank.

She grabbed it and shoved it in the back of her closet to let it collect dust in the hopes that she would never see it again.

It may have been incomplete because she wasn’t a prodigy, but that didn’t mean that Rosetta herself was incomplete. She wasn’t a defect.

She quickly changed into pajamas and wiped away tears, curling up in bed.

Her door creaked open and her dad came in.

“Good you’re in bed.” He then noticed her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I just got soap in my eye when I washed my face when I was in the bathroom and it stings,” she lied.

Hypothetically, she could tell them how she was feeling. They would listen. The only problem was that Rosetta had spent so much of her life just being silent, as she was often cut from family conversations, and overall never being priority so much that she didn’t know how to express that to her parents and at this point she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to.

He chuckled softly and kissed her head. “Don’t stay up too late pumpkin.”

“I won’t,” Rosetta yawned as he turned out the light and left, shutting the door behind him.


	4. Welcome to GATA Baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosetta collects her things and goes with Ellie and Beck to GATA. Also let's roast the OG Renegades because we can.

Rosetta finished packing, checking off her list on the whiteboard in her bedroom. She had everything ready for school with all her books packed and her clothes and outfits planned out for herself. She packed all her hair supplies and everything she used to get ready for the morning and for bed.

She kept a decent amount of clothes at the school year round and used the extra space in her duffel for Pudge and his things since he was allowed to stay in her room as long as her roommate wasn’t allergic which Beck wasn’t.

She zipped up the duffel and then put on her backpack, the strap resting on her shoulder and the bag itself at her hip. She then took her skateboard and inserted it in the slot she added to the back of her cello case and put her cello on her back and slung the duffel over her shoulder before heading out, her ID badge resting against her chest due to her lanyard. She then whistled, Pudge immediately going into his little carrier. She shut it and picked it up.

“I’m heading out to school. I’ll see you Friday night!” Rosetta yelled.

“Do you have everything you need? Toothbrush, books, clothes, Pudge and all his things?” Adrian asked.

“Yeah I have everything,” Rosetta said.

“You have your oxygen pack?”

Rosetta rolled her eyes. She hadn’t used it since she was six years old. Even then she really only needed it for when she was being overly active but she certainly didn’t need it now. It was an unnecessary precaution if anything.

“Yes I have that too. It never leaves my duffel.”

“See you this weekend,” Nova said.

Both of them pressed kisses to her forehead and Eva and Valerie waved from their seats on barstools in the kitchen. Pudge meowed at them from inside his carrier until he got scratches on the head as goodbye.

Rosetta then left, Beck meeting them outside. The train station was a block away and they took the student run which was leaving in twenty minutes. They always got there early so they could get into their favorite car. They liked the one all the way in the back because it was meant for six people at most so usually no one went in there. However for Beck, Rosetta, and Ellie who met up with them at the station, there was just enough space for all of their things and was perfect size for them.

Valerie was lucky. Her college was just as far away as GATA was but her classes on Monday were all in the afternoon so she got to stay home on Sunday nights. For Rosetta, her first class was at 8:30 in the morning which was later then most schools but she still didn’t want to get up before 7 if she didn’t have to.

Ellie was waiting for them in their normal spot and in a few minutes the train came. They boarded, piling their duffels and backpacks on the end of the table while Beck and Rosetta’s instruments rested against the seats. Pudge sat in his crate on the table, loving the attention from her friends.

Rosetta took her normal spot next to the window, enjoying the setting sun. She then pulled out her phone to make a TikTok. She uploaded a video on her YouTube channel every Wednesday but posted a lot more on her TikTok. Recently her notes were full of ideas.

She put in her earbuds and started recording, holding the little microphone to her face.

“Today I will be ranking the OG Renegades from worst to best. Yes this is also a callout post at my own family to a degree. Coming in last place is Evander Wade AKA Blacklight. I have no idea what he has ever done but give bad vibes and it was his idea to execute my mom who was 16 at the time and if he had gotten what he wanted I wouldn’t exist which is a no Bueno. I haven’t met him and I’m thankful for that. Next is my Grandpa Hugh Everhart AKA Captain Chromium. I love him and he’s significantly better then Blacklight, and he’s a great person, he’s done great work for the community and while no one is perfect he’s had some big fuck ups in his take on leadership. Also he can’t handle chaotic 17 year old girls i.e. me and my mom when she was my age, but he can apparently handle Ace Anarchy which I just find wack! After him is Kasumi Hasegawa AKA Tsunami. She’s really chill and peaceful and I’ve met her and she once baby sat me and she was fun. I like her and she’s a good person. No complaints.

"Now coming in is our top three. In third is Tamaya Rae AKA Thunderbird. Again she’s pretty chill and has the same vibes as Tsunami but she’ll throw hands with people more often and I RESPECT THAT SHIT! In second place is my other grandpa Simon Westwood AKA the Dread Warden. He’s pretty cool. He’s really nice and pretty levelheaded and he also can handle chaotic 17 year old girls which apparently is a skill him and my other grandfather needed. Now in first place, the best of the Original Renegades, the woman, the myth, the fucking legend, is my biological grandma Georgia Rawless AKA Lady Indomitable. She was a single mom and a fucking badass and even though I’ve never met her I like her vibes. She’s completely unproblematic and I feel like I would be her favorite grandchild if she was alive despite my bullshit which isn’t relevant to everyone else but it’s relevant to me so I’m including it. Also everyone tells me I look a lot like her which they should have seen coming becAUSE I’M RELATED TO HER…. but also apparently I can act a lot like her too and it’s for those reasons which she’s in first place because I’m not dissing her or myself in any way. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.”

She ended the video and posted it as Ellie and Beck wheezed and snickered from their seats. Pudge meowed loudly at them.

“Damn you really came for your family members like that,” Beck snickered.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while.”

“Yeah no shit it’s obvious,” Ellie laughed.

The rest of the train ride seemed to pass by quickly. It was nearly an hour but she had done it so many times that she barely even noticed anymore, mostly staring out the window creating long day dreams or filming a TikTok or YouTube video. Ellie and Beck had gotten used to her ranting about nonsense or her just filming them too so it wasn’t like she was bothering them by doing it. Even when she wasn’t filming something, she was always editing a video or drawing or doing something for her own personal work.

Ellie’s alarm then went off. It was 7:35 which meant that the train would be stopping in five minutes. They all packed up their things and got everything together especially since it was a process of sorting out bags and getting their instruments around the small compartment, especially with Rosetta’s being so large due to it being cello.

The second she finished grabbing everything the train slowed to a stop and they got off, going down the steps and onto the sidewalk immediately. Down the sidewalk they could see the massive academy, kids bringing their things for the week in.

The gates were open but everyone scanned their ID badge at the door. The three of them went inside, swiping their badges and taking the elevator to the 10th floor. They went straight ahead, Rosetta and Beck reaching their dorm first, Ellie being a few doors down, sharing a room with Lana and Meg and Kiki shared a room across the hall from them.

Rosetta tossed her things on her bed and so did Beck as she let Pudge out of his crate. He went and made himself home in the cardboard box that was on top of the two closets. 

Rosetta began unpacking, resting her cello against the wall and putting all her clothes away. She hung up her shirts and jackets and put her pants on the shelf above the rack and her shoes beneath it. In the drawers at the bottom she dumped everything else before she took her duffel and shoved it under her bed.

It was her normal routine every time she got back. It wasn’t hard to fall right into rhythm and feel like she was at home.

Beck did the same. As he finished, Meg came in and grabbed the duffel under Rosetta’s bed and pulled it out, checking to make sure Rosetta’s oxygen pack was there before leaving. Beck and Rosetta paid her no attention, instead playing with Pudge. Meg did that every time they unpacked or repacked.

It was sweet but at the same time a little annoying. She appreciated the concern yet she desperately wished people knew that she didn’t need it and hadn’t needed it since she was six years old. She was going to be 18 by the end of the school year and even more so, when she used it when she was six, it was just for intense activity. Now she could hold a note out for two minutes and had great lung capacity and stamina.

Still, the doctors made her come every year for a checkup on her lungs and while they said she wouldn’t need it unless it was an extreme emergency, they sent a new oxygen pack her way each year. It was more like an EpiPen situation then anything. All it ever did was make people worried for no reason and give Rosetta a mostly useless object that she decorated each time. In fact she still had every oxygen pack she had ever had, nearly all of them decorated in some way.

Every oxygen pack was a bland gray rectangle that you put air cartridges into and then it sent it through the connected tubes. It was a brand new advancement in medicine when Rosetta was a baby and it worked well for her then since she only needed a little help. She always had fully formed lungs but she didn’t always have enough stamina for her lungs to take in all the air she needed on her own due to, and like every other problem she seemed to have, her premature birth. She didn’t need much air, just a little. Regardless, she got one every year and had just gotten a new one, an unopened box of cartridges with it that got replaced monthly.

Her latest one was decorated in the most glitzy and pink way possible with gemstones and glitter glue and foam letters gel pens. Her name was spelled out on it with the foam letters and then she put glitter glue on those to make them sparkly. She then made a lining of gemstones on the outer edge of the pack and within it but surrounding the letters were the doodles made in the gel pens of middle fingers and lips and lollipops and she even wrote out some “censored” curse words that she went over with the glitter glue. It was a very bitchy aesthetic and she loved it.  
With each pack she used a different theme, the one before it just being a hodge-podge of stickers, even if they were the little stickers that were put on fruit. Her one from when she was six was covered in Hello Kitty stickers that Beck had given her and another one from when she was twelve she had painted flowers and mushrooms and frogs onto.

The only part of the pack that she had let anyone touch decoration wise was the belt that kept it on her hips. Ellie had embroidered it with a bunch of different flowers with bees and butterflies and birds flapping around above them.

Ellie had done it last year when they had their little fling and to Rosetta, it was still one of the best gifts she had ever received, even if reflecting on her short romance with the girl she was now in love with only ever brought her pain.

Rosetta went and got ready for bed.


	5. Someone Appreciate Rosetta's Talents Please She is Begging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst :)

All week, after classes and homework were finished, Rosetta and her friends headed to the studio room that they had taken for the next two hours. She was making her last music video for her EP and it was all hands on deck. They had done this last year when Kiki and Beck released their band’s first EP and some songs and Lana, who was a film student, had gladly offered to help film and edit for them, doing the same for Rosetta now.

Everyone was pitching in their skills with Kiki finding every prop or costume needed and Ellie helping sew and finish off any costumes. Meg, who was a dancer, helped with choreography, though for this video there wasn’t much, and Kiki and Beck helped with sound and helped play instrument for when they put all the audio together.

They were nearly done with filming, just needing one last scene before they could put it all together and upload it to Rosetta’s YouTube. She wasn’t worried about anyone she didn’t want finding it discovering it as those people didn’t exactly use YouTube for what she was uploading. She had never been so glad that she was at war with a conservative boy who thought social media was the Devil’s work. Jack really was something.

Currently, Ellie, who had let herself be in the music video, was wearing a giant, fluffy, cotton candy pink dress. Her nails were painted a shimmery pink and all the makeup on her was shiny and a peach color. Her hair was down in loose waves and she had heart shaped lollipop earrings on. Rosetta would admit, it’s exactly how she pictured the other person in the video looking like mainly because it was a song based off her pinning for Ellie, one she had made when they had their fling but never showed her.

Rosetta herself was dressed up, wearing high wasted dress pants, a tank-top, and then a thin button up that was half opened over top, tucked into the pants, all of it in pink and white. Her hair was left down with little candy shaped clips scattered through her curls. She also had glossy pink makeup to go along.

The set was a candy shop with the stereotypical red and white striped with black and white checkered tile everywhere. There was a little stage in the back of the shop with a 50s era microphone in it and two giant lollipops crossed over each other and hung on the wall.

“Okay Ellie move a little more to the left. I need you centered on the X,” Lana instructed.

She slid down the stage and Rosetta did too, her head on her lap.

They just had to record the last refrain of the chorus.

“Okay now Beck turn out the main lights, Kiki shut the blinds, and Meg I need you to turn on the show lighting,” Lana directed.

All of them did as they were told. The show lighting flickered on as the rest of the room went black.

“And go,” Lana said.

So Rosetta sang the last refrain of the chorus. She did it several times to make sure that they got what they needed. And even though it was only a few lines she needed to sing, it still took forever to get done and she was sweating by the end of it though Ellie was too, the stage lights pounding on them.

However, by the end of next week, Rosetta and Lana would have finished editing the video and they would post it.

“And that everyone, is a wrap,” Lana said, putting the hard drive and camera away as they packed up.

“Now we can focus on prepping for the music showcase,” Beck laughed.

Tomorrow night, for the seniors, was the Starter Showcase. It was always a week before break and the Snowball dance which was the Friday closest to the winter break. There was always two showcases a year for each grade.

Rosetta had written the showcase down on the calendar. She was hoping that her family would come as she had been talking about it for a while. The first two years at school she had never told her parents anything about it as she didn’t want people to know about her family but after the news got out at the end of her junior year last year, right before the Ending Showcase, she had asked them to come. It seemed, thankfully, that no one cared who her parents were after a week and people never asked her any questions about it like they had in middle school.

It allowed her to be more open at school though, there were still some things she didn’t tell anyone.

But she was giving her parents something she liked and she was just hoping it didn’t get ruined.

They all then went back to their dorms, Lana giving Rosetta the footage to edit on her laptop. It wasn’t necessarily late, but it was 6 at night and dinner in the cafeteria would be starting soon and Rosetta wanted to shower before she ate.

She put her hair in a shower cap and turned on the water. The bathroom was right off of their room on “Rosetta’s” side of the room and she didn’t really mind Beck coming in to wash his hands as she got in.

Most people would assume that it was weird but it wasn’t like anything was going to happen between them. Rosetta was gay and in love with Ellie while Beck was the straightest person alive and was in love with Kiki who he wanted to date.

That and they had known each other so long that they were like siblings and personal boundaries didn’t exist between them.

Rosetta scrubbed her body down quickly before drying off and putting on pajamas, taking off the shower cap and hanging it up. She grabbed her bag and put on flip flops and went out the door.  
Kids were crowded in the cafeteria, some in line and some at tables. She saw Kiki, Ellie, and Beck all together at the table they and their friends shared. Additionally, as much as Rosetta hated it, James was sitting with Ellie. Occasionally he tagged a long and every time Rosetta either ignored him or didn’t join. Everyone knew she didn’t like him, including Ellie but they didn’t seem bothered by it.

Lana and Meg beckoned her over to the line, a tray and silverware ready for her. She ran to them and joined.

“You better not be mean to James. He has done nothing to you and you can’t be mean to him because you’re jealous,” Meg said immediately.

“I’m trying,” Rosetta insisted.

It was true. She felt bad about hating him. He was nice and she was just jealous. It wasn’t her fault though. She didn’t control her emotions as much as she tried and she was honestly doing her best to get over Ellie. The problem was that she saw her every day and that made it difficult but she didn’t want to ice Ellie out either. There was no good option and Rosetta loathed it entirely.  
“We know Rose but you really suck at hiding it,” Lana laughed, putting chicken nuggets on her plate.

“I’m just saying his vibes are off. I don’t think he’s straight,” Rosetta pointed out.

“Bisexual and pansexual and other sexualities besides gay and straight exist,” Meg said nonchalantly.

“I’m well aware. But I still don’t think that’s it.”

Changing the subject swiftly, Lana held up one of her nuggets. “Look they’re dinosaur shaped!” She giggled, making Meg and Rosetta laugh as well. She had a bubbly personality and was good at making others happy and changing the subject which was very much needed at the moment.

Rosetta also went for the dino nuggets as well as a roll. She loved the rolls the cafeteria had. They were always warm and melted in her mouth.

“Both of you get a salad or something. You need fruits and veggies,” Meg reminded, like always.

Lana and Rosetta looked at each other and rolled their eyes but listened anyways, Lana grabbing roasted vegetables and Rosetta going to the salad bar. They all met up at the table, Rosetta sitting quietly and minding her business in between Beck and Kiki, across from Lana.

She didn’t engage in much conversation, afraid she’d say something mean to James and everyone would get mad at her. She didn’t really need that at the moment. The only thing she did was let Kiki toss food in her and Beck’s mouth to add to the competition.

Rosetta’s phone then buzzed. It was an update from her musical performance class.

Miss Calice: Reminder; Some of you may have to come on the weekend to help clean up the Showcase for your credits. Check the list tomorrow morning to see if you are on it.

Not knowing if she completed all her needed credits for assistance, as they had to help out a certain amount from helping around school to pass, Rosetta decided to call her parents just in case. Sometimes they would miss text messages so as annoying as it was, it was safer to call them.

Her dad picked up right away.

“What do you need sweetheart? Is everything okay at school?” He asked.

“Yeah everything’s fine. I just thought you should know that I might not come home with you after the Showcase on Friday because of clean up,” She explained.

“The Showcase? That’s next Friday right?”

“No it’s this Friday as in tomorrow night,” Rosetta said, heart already starting to sink. By the tone of his voice she could tell that she was going to be let down.

“What time?”

“6.”

“I’m sorry sweetie. Your mom and I promised that we’d be there for Eva’s game. It’s the last one of the season,” Adrian told her.

“Oh,” Rosetta said, a little disappointed. “Oh okay. That’s fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah I’m sure,” she said, doing her best to sound as happy as possible even though she was upset by the news.

They may have promised to be there for Eva’s game but they had also promised to be at the Ending Showcase last year and missed it. They said they would be there for this one and she even put it on the calendar. She hadn’t shut up about it. Rosetta couldn’t believe that they had forgotten.

“Thank you for understand pumpkin. Tell us if you have to stay over the weekend. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

She ended the call and then texted Valerie.

Me: Are you coming to the showcase tomorrow? It’s at 6.

Val: Can’t. I have work. Sorry, Maybe next time. :(

Rosetta turned off her phone and made a frustrated growl, shoving it in her bag trying not to cry. All of her friends turned to her but she got up before they could do anything, putting her things in the wash bin.

She came back and grabbed her bag.

“Are you okay?” Ellie asked.

“They can’t come,” She said, tears starting to roll down her cheeks. “I don’t even know why I got my hopes up.”

She turned on her heel and left before they could ask anymore.


	6. Meg Temporarily Becomes a Therapist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst ;) part 2 but with a happier ending.

Rosetta went to the music rooms on a separate part of the campus, not caring about being outside in her pajamas or the wind that slapped at her skin before she reached her destination. Usually playing any instrument got her emotions out of her system. Playing her guitar was most helpful, allowing her to get out her anger and playing felt therapeutic to her.

She went in and took out her set of keys, unlocking her guitars from the storage place and taking one out. She had a baby blue and white Fender guitar. Stickers covered it and her name had been stitched into the strap with white embroidery floss.

Immediately she plugged it into an amp and started playing, kicking off her flip flops and dancing around the stage, not really caring if someone passed by and saw.

Rosetta let herself be immersed in it all. She just wanted to take her mind off what happened.

She honestly wasn’t sure what she was expecting from her parents. She understood her sister’s not being able to make it but this was a showcase. It was important. They had missed the first one she had invited them to and she had drilled it into them to come for this one and still they were going to miss it.

They did this every time she ever asked them to come to something. Her family had encouraged her to go to GATA when she said she wanted to go and when she said she wanted to do certain things for her music they always told her to go for it but it when it came to them pulling through to actually see her growth and where it got her, suddenly they weren’t there. She wasn’t sure if they were just letting her do all these things because they didn’t actually care or if they were simply trying to be supportive but really weren’t.

Rosetta didn’t know which she hated more.

It also seemed that everyone only remembered her oxygen pack when giving her reasons not to do something but when she actually did it no one cared about her or was concerned for her well being like she was before.

Maybe it wasn’t on purpose as her parents had the right to be concerned for her health and each time she insisted she was okay and that she would be fine. Maybe it was their way of showing concern but also giving her space about it as she hated when people brought up the oxygen pack. She hoped that was the case but whether it was true or not they needed improvement on how they handled her oxygen pack.

Regardless, she was always the one who got the short end of the stick when she shouldn’t have and it hurt. It wasn’t fair. Things were never fair for her and her sisters always got their way. And now she was so used to it that she didn’t even have the courage to fight it anymore.

She just wanted to graduate and leave Gatlon, acting like she had never lived there. Her parents were well aware of her plan to move out to LA with her friends after graduation and once she got there, she was never going to talk to anyone at home ever again. She would just do it and lead the life she wanted, putting all the hurt and disappointment and sadness aside forever.

But even then, she didn’t have the guts to do that to her family. It would hurt them and as much as she thought they deserved it, she didn’t have the heart to commit with her grand plan of cutting them off entirely.

“I figured you’d be here,” a voice said.

Rosetta’s head shot up and saw Meg sitting in a chair. It was nearly 10 and a lot of time had passed since she had come into the room to play her guitar. How long Meg had been there she wasn’t sure and she wasn’t going to ask.

Her friend held up a cinch sack. “We got you a bunch of rolls.”

Rosetta laughed and came over. She opened the bag and it was in fact full of rolls from the cafeteria, some of them still warm and fresh.

“Thanks.”

Meg patted the chair next to her. “Come on. Let’s talk a little.”

Rosetta obliged. She didn’t really want to talk about what happened, it wasn’t going to change anything, but Meg was always good at holding conversations and with Rosetta’s general personality, it made for some very funny and interesting ones to occur.

She took the guitar off and set it aside, sitting in the chair.

“Look I know it’s not the same,” Meg said. “But I get it. I get your parents not showing up.”

“Right,” Rosetta said, remembering all the times Meg’s parents had done the same for important school events. “I remember last year when they missed the ballet show.”

Meg nodded, mouth twitching into a frown and then going back to her normal expression.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “My parents are always working so they never come. But I don’t focus on that. I know it sucks a lot but you have to think of all the people who did show up for you and who will continue to do so. You’ve got me, Lana, Kiki, Beck, and Ellie.”

“I wouldn’t bring Ellie into this,” Rosetta told her, laughing lightly.

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Meg snorted. “Just remember that we’ve always been there for you and we always will be just like you’ve always been there for us. We’re a team, all six of us, and we’re not leaving you for nothing.”

“I know- I just- It hurts so much. Each time I think they might show and then at the last minute- they just- arrrghhh!”

She broke down crying again and Meg reached over and pulled her into a hug, stroking her head to calm her down.

“I know,” she said quietly. “I know it hurts. I really do.” She was crying now as well. “But not everyone who will ever love you has met you yet and one day you will meet them and they’ll show up just like we always show up now.”

“It’s like I mean nothing to them. They’re always so concerned I’m going to get hurt doing something like this but when it comes down to it, when they need to be there if not to support me then to be there if something does happen, they somehow can’t show. I’m just a disappointment and we all know it and it’s because I don’t have fucking powers and I suck in normal academics and I want to be a musician and- and-”

Meg held her tighter as she sobbed.

“You’re not a disappointment. You’re goddamn Rosetta Jude McLain and you’ve already accomplished more in your life then many other people and you’re only 17. You actually lived to 1 year old which is a miracle on it’s own, you made it into GATA, you’ve overcome your lung obstacles, and you’ve already released an EP with a concert tour this summer to go with that you’re planning while you finish up your debut album. Your parents may know nothing about your EP or the concerts but they know about the rest of it and that’s pretty damn impressive on its own. If they can’t see that then it’s their problem because you’re a goddamn powerhouse. You may not have powers and you may not be following in the footsteps of your family members but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve support or are without it.”

It felt nice to hear it coming from Meg. Rosetta loved her dearly, but she wasn’t always the best to come to for emotional support or advice other then being told “don’t do that you’ll get hurt,”. Even though she showed up for events all their friends had, she was normally quietly watching and not screaming her lungs out cheering like the rest of them.

She never really minded though. Sometimes it was nice to have someone silently cheering you on and it made their deeper conversations, like this one, all the better.

“Thank you,” Rosetta said, wiping her face. “This means a lot to me.”

Meg shrugged, going back to her more stoic self. “It’s no problem.” She picked up the cinch sack. “Now put your guitar away, eat your rolls, and go to sleep. I think you could use some rest too.”

Rosetta shook her head, laughing a little as she took the bag and started to put her guitar back where it was originally. “Yeah probably. I’m always tired and falling asleep places.”

Despite Rosetta never being able to fall asleep at night, often times she was able to take naps anywhere, anytime, in any position. She had no sleep schedule what so ever no matter how she tried so she just took sleep where she could.

“Oh I’m aware,” Meg chuckled. “We have lots of videos of you falling asleep literally anywhere.”

“It spices things up doesn’t it though?”

Meg snorted as Rosetta relocked her guitar’s slot and collected her things. They left, turning out the lights and going back to the center of the campus where their rooms and other things used by all the students like the cafeteria were all located.

Beck was sitting on his bed, writing something down on sheet music. He gave her a soft smile when she came in and Pudge started purring once he saw her. She set her things down and sat on her own bed, her cat hoping into her arms and snuggling her.

“Feeling any better?” Beck asked.

“Yeah a little,” Rosetta said, wiping her face once more.

“Do you want a hug?” He asked, setting his things aside.

“Yes,” she said softly. Beck always gave good hugs. His hugs were never as good as Kiki’s but no one could beat out Kiki at hugs and well, a hug was a hug.

He held her tight and she curled against him, Pudge cuddling up too. Meg was right, even if her family wasn’t coming, she still had a family at GATA and that was her friend group. They still supported her through everything and several of her teachers did too.

Rosetta was probably over thinking everything as well. She may have overheard her parents call her a disappointment for not having powers, but that didn’t mean that they were disappointed in her decisions in music and didn’t support her that way. As let down as she was, that didn’t seem like something her parents would do.

She just needed some bread rolls and some rest and she would be alright.

Right as she was about to go to bed her phone went off again. It was a text from someone called Pineapple. She instantly recognized it as Ellie’s contact as she had made the unfortunate mistake of telling their friend group of how one time she was hungry and she had just learned what a can opener was so she ate a bunch of pineapple to the point where she had to go to the hospital.  
Once they all found out, everyone in their friend group promptly changed her contact name to Pineapple and they hadn’t stopped making jokes about it since.

Pineapple: Hey, I know you’re feeling a little upset so what if we had a sleepover? Just us two on Friday after the Showcase?

Me: I might stay over the weekend.

Pineapple: That’s fine by me. I have to be here Saturday anyways.

Her heart fluttered. It would be just the two of them and that was always fun for her, even if she should have been distancing herself from Ellie. She would probably end up regretting the decision and make herself even more upset but she didn’t really care.

Me: Okay. Sounds great.

She sent the text and plugged in her phone, getting ready to bed but hardly sleeping. She was too happy.


	7. It's Showtime Baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The showcase finally happens!

The next day Rosetta checked the clean up schedule. Her name wasn’t on it but she was going to stay anyways. Right now she was still too upset with her parents to go home and she didn’t feel like showing it.

She got to leave classes early that day though it was just her afternoon courses and those were the ones were music was actually involved so it didn’t matter much anyways.

Rosetta got ready quickly, slicking her hair back into a ponytail and retouching her makeup before she put on her suit and tucked a red flower behind her ear like every performance for school. It was a formal, black and white event where you had to wear fancy clothing in the given colors. There was a dress code sent to everyone but it never changed so Rosetta didn’t bother to read it though they were allowed one small item with color to personalize their look a little and Rosetta always chose a random flower. She and Beck kept a lot of plants in their room so taking a flower from their room wasn’t a hard task.

Beck and Rosetta met up with Kiki in the hall, Beck wearing a black jumpsuit he borrowed from Lana with a bright blue baseball cap on backwards and Kiki wearing a black, flowing dress with a beautiful, patterned hijab to go with. They each had a very different aesthetic going on for themselves but somehow they still fit together, even if Kiki and Beck were the ones in a band together and Rosetta was doing her own solo act.

“Okay, outfit check,” Meg said, holding up a printed list of the rules. “We’re not having any repeats of last year.”

As in last year she meant the time Beck forgot to check the rules and got sent back to change right before he went on and nearly missed his slot. His dress was an inch too short and Mrs. Octavius was strict about the dress code.

“I brought my measuring tape,” Ellie said, coming out of her room. She had a big kit of sewing supplies and had at least 10 measuring tapes scattered among her things.

Kiki was done first and while she had no skin showing besides her face, Meg made sure the colors she had chosen were cleared. Like every time, she was perfectly fine.

They moved onto Beck next, Ellie measuring how deep the neckline was and unfortunately, it was too deep.

“Oh no!” He said sarcastically. “They’re going to see my tits what a horror.”

“Hey man if they would do that to me then they’re going to do it to you so don’t be a whore,” Rosetta snorted.

“Speaking of which, while we can adjust Beck’s straps, you need to button up some more because your bra is out,” Ellie said as she stood behind back and fixed the straps.

“Suck it dipshit,” Beck said, sticking out his tongue. Rosetta stuck hers out in retaliation and flipped him off.

Meg started to redo the buttons, despite Rosetta’s complaining and wriggling to get away.

“There,” she said, satisfied with her work. “And Kiki I’m tasking you with making sure she doesn’t undo those buttons right before she goes on stage. Rosetta if I have to see your bra while you preform I’m going to murder you.”

“It’s not even a bra it’s a crop top and it looks cute under my button up so I’m willing to take that risk for the aesthetic. Besides I hate the notion that girls breasts are inherently sexual and boys can go around without a shirt so why the fuck can’t I!”

“Because it’s a formal event idiot!”

“I have decided to ignore that.”

Meg and Kiki face palmed while Beck and Ellie laughed. Rosetta then grabbed her cello from her room and put it on her back as Beck and Kiki collected their things.

The three of them left and went to the Glass Auditorium, nicknamed for having a class dome as the roof above the seating. Mrs. Octavius inspected their outfits before checking them off, Kiki and Beck putting their things in the back room before they all went to their tier. Their other instruments were already in the orchestra panel. Instead of an orchestra pit like literally every place, the orchestra was tiered upwards behind the stage.

While everyone had their own individual performance, they also played background music if needed. Not many people really needed it aside from a few things, but it also gave them all a place to sit when waiting for their turn.

Rosetta was in the center tier with her lavender cello on one side and a harp on the other. Beck and Kiki were on the bottom in the percussion section, Kiki at a keyboard and Beck on drums. Kiki also had her guitar behind her chair for her actual performance.

Larger instruments like harps, drums, and a piano were on stage for those who would use them for their performance, like the drums Beck would use and the piano Rosetta would use smaller things like guitars and flutes and violins were kept with their owner and brought on stage with the performer.

Mrs. Octavius had them all test their instruments and they did vocal warmups as well as a few run throughs of songs. Then she had the crew get everything in check like lighting. In the booth Rosetta could see Lana, her black hair pulled back in a ponytail. She waved and Lana responded by blowing a kiss, making Rosetta grin.

By the time everything was in order, the curtains dropped and the first performer, a girl named Alyssa, was on stage with her violin, ready to go.

Mrs. Octavius gave a welcome speech to the parents and left the stage, the curtains raising and the lights going on to center on Alyssa. Rosetta had heard her play before. She had heard everyone play before but Alyssa’s music always stuck out a little more to her for some reason. It was most likely because she was the only female solo violinist in the school, but regardless she played beautifully.

In the crowd Rosetta easily spotted Ellie and Meg lounging in the student section. She also found Kiki’s parents and brothers in the crowd sitting besides one of Beck’s sisters, Kayla. His other sister, his two brothers, and his mom couldn’t make it. His mom had to work that night and his other three siblings had their own activities.

Her heart dropped a little.

It wasn’t fair that their families could be there and not one person from Rosetta’s, that she wanted to come at least, was there. But she was close with both of their families and knew that they would also be there for her as much as their own children. At least there was that.

Alyssa finished and it seemed like performers flew by until it was Beck and Kiki’s turn, Rosetta perking up and going down to the stage floor with her guitar as she was two slots after them. She could hear them playing, Beck on drums and Kiki singing and playing guitar.

They played two songs, both of which weren’t theirs’s. That was the point of the Starter Showcase, to show that they could play different music and had learned their instruments or whatever it had said on the curriculum. Rosetta spaced out reading it before she could comprehend what was happened because sometimes, despite taking medication, her ADHD got the best of her and she couldn’t take in information.

Regardless, it was the Ending Showcase that they would play music they wrote to prove something along the lines that they could write. The Ending Showcase for the Seniors was far more important anyways as scouts for different labels and businesses would come to look for whatever musician they needed to hire or just to make record deals with new artists before anyone else did. It was a competitive field.

Rosetta waited a few more minutes before she went on stage. It was completely silent and she could feel nerves building but shook them off. Ellie gave her a thumbs up and Meg grinned at her which helped a little bit.

She was singing two songs; Why Do You Feel So Down by Declan McKenna and Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift. They were vastly different songs in every possible aspect but Rosetta loved them both.

Rosetta sang and played and didn’t even realize her slot was finished until she was done. She always lost track of time and her thoughts when she played, completely in a world of her own.  
She took deep breaths and curtsied as the audience clapped. She looked up and saw the heart hands Lana shot her from the lighting booth before she left the stage and went back to her tier.  
By the time she got there, the last person finished and the Showcase was over. Mrs. Octavius gave her closing speech and the curtains dropped and the lights went on. The audience left, flooding the halls as they waited for their kids.

Students started packing up, Rosetta putting her instrument in its case and leaving. The harp was school owned as Rosetta couldn’t afford nor had the space for her own. She wasn’t even sure what she would do with it besides just play at home. She couldn’t move it everywhere often and discreetly for performances.

She didn’t feel like dealing with the crowds as much as she loved Beck and Kiki’s families, instead choosing to take the hallway off of the back of the bottom tier and taking the long way. As soon as she stepped through the main door, Ellie was waiting for her, smiling brightly.

“I figured you’d be here. You did amazing,” She said once she spotted Rosetta, looping her arm though hers.

“Thanks,” Rosetta said, grinning. “Where’s Meg and Lana?”

“With Beck and Kiki. They’re also taking the train home.”

“Right.” Rosetta nodded.  
“And now it’s time for the sleepover to begin. Get ready and then meet me in my room right after,” Ellie said wickedly, making Rosetta’s heart pound. She already knew she was in too deep.


	8. Pining For A Girl Is A Superpower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sleepover with Ellie happens and lets see what homoerotic stuff happens here ;)

Rosetta came into Ellie’s room, her hair pulled back and a giant shirt with shorts on and Pudge in hand. Ellie was in her own pajamas with her laptop, movies, and her latest embroidery work on the bed as she had put both the beds together to make a big one.

Rosetta dropped her cat on the bed and Ellie scooped Pudge up right before he got to her embroidery, the curious pet pawing at everything he saw.

“That is not for you mister,” she said, scratching behind his ear and making him purr.

She hopped onto the beds, hair flouncing behind her. She looked adorable in her purple pajama set, just like how she looked good in literally anything.

Ellie held up the movies.

“Which one?”

She had several vastly different choices, showing her Shrek, Emma, Love Simon, and Pulp Fiction. Rosetta, ever the sucker for a romantic movie, chose Love Simon.  
Ellie popped it in and Rosetta dimmed the lights, enough that it was dark but not too dark that Ellie couldn’t see her needle work.

She was making a depiction of David by Michelangelo. She absolutely loved remaking iconic artwork from the Renaissance and her favorite artist of all was Michelangelo. She put his art on everything but Rosetta wasn’t complaining either. She loved Michelangelo and Renaissance art too, being obsessed with then hands from God Creating Adam.

Obviously though, Ellie strayed form just recreating Michelangelo’s work, having put a bunch of famous paintings and pieces like Starry Night and The Persistence of Memory on jeans she had. Ellie had also embroidered Frida Kahlo onto a jean jacket. Any famous piece of art that existed, it seemed Ellie had put it on something. It was what most of her embroidery was, doing other things like flowers or patterns onto objects as requested by people.

Eventually, Ellie set her things aside and focused back on the movie, wiggling her way under the blanket Rosetta had draped over herself, Pudge on top of her and asleep.

“Oh I like Abby’s makeup,” Rosetta mentioned as they showed them in Cabaret for the school musical.

“I can do it for you if you want,” Ellie offered. “I mean you already took off your makeup and washed your face I assume but-”

“Go ahead,” Rosetta told her, knowing that it would make her happy. She loved doing other people’s makeup. “I mean I’m going to end up taking it off soon anyways but you can do it.”

“Yes!” Ellie cheered. “Let me go grab my things.”

She hopped off the bad and ran to the bathroom, coming back with her bag and miniature portable ring light. She paused the movie and flicked on the lights, putting her bag down on the bed and suctioning the light to the wall, turning it on.

She crawled on the bed and then over top of Rosetta, pushing her back against the bed and under the light. She settled herself, straddling Rosetta’s hips with her thighs. 

Rosetta could feel her body heating up, warmth spreading up her neck and face. She was almost certain that Ellie would be able to hear her heart, thundering and about to burst from her chest.

Ellie was on top of her.

Ellie was on top of her!

ELLIE WAS ON TOP OF HER!

She thought she might just black out as Ellie began, grabbing an eyeshadow. One hand was holding the side of her face and the other was maneuvering the brush.

“Are you okay? Your forehead is hot?” Ellie asked.

“Mhmm.”

Ellie then pressed a kiss to her forehead and Rosetta nearly screamed.

“You sure you’re alright? It feels like you have a temperature.”

“Yeah I’m sure,” she squeaked.

She gave her a look but didn’t press. Instead she had her close her eyes so she could apply the eyeshadow. Rosetta wasn’t allowed to open them until Ellie said she could but she could hear and feel her pausing and continuing, palette clanking every time as the metal part of the brush hit it and the bristles then met her eye.

Next she felt eyeliner go on and then she was allowed to open her eyes, only to be told to curl her eyelashes and put on mascara since Ellie knew that Rosetta hated when anyone else did those things for her. She never really liked people being able to go that close to her eyes and be able to nearly stab her too. That and it just felt uncomfortable for her.

“And last touch,” Ellie said, pulling out lipstick and popping off the cap. “Open your mouth a bit please.”

Rosetta did as told, not having the courage at the moment to be playful at the moment. Ellie’s thumb held her bottom lip down gently as she applied it to the top. She let go, placing it on the bottom and making Rosetta’s heart pound the whole time. She was almost sure this is what a stroke felt like.

Ellie moved off of her, packing her things away but tossing Rosetta a little hand held mirror.

“What do you think?”

“It’s great. Thanks,” she said quickly, trying not to melt into a puddle.

Her crush then left to go put her things back in the bathroom, gently snagging back the mirror.

Pudge then moved onto her and she held him tight, needing something to ground her. He meowed in defiance and tried to squirm out.

“Leave that poor baby alone,” Ellie said, as she came back in, grabbing a deck of cards off her desk and throwing them at her so she would release him.

Not wanting to get hit in the face by the cards, she let Pudge go and snatched them from the air. Rosetta cleared a space on the bed and dumped them out, proceeding to shuffle them.  
“Do you want to play a quick round of go fish?” She asked.

“I don’t see why not.”

She sat on the bed and Rosetta dealt the cards, even giving a few to Pudge since he liked to do whatever Rosetta did. If he wanted one of her cards he would tap it and she would see if it matched his or not.

They played for a few rounds, Pudge somehow winning two of them, before Ellie stretched and hit the lights.

“I’m tired,” she yawned curling up on the bed and patting a spot beside her, gesturing for Rosetta to lie down as well.

“Let me go wash my face.”

“So much for the makeup I did,” she murmured.

“I warned you did I not?”

She went to the bathroom and rinsed down with water before taking a few pumps of Lana’s face wash. They both used the same brand and more then once Lana had come into Beck and Rosetta’s room to take some so she wouldn’t mind Rosetta taking a little from her.

She dried her face off and then flopped onto the bed. Ellie wiggled closer, her head on her shoulder, breathing already steady. She was asleep in minutes and as much as Rosetta loved her, it had to be one of the most annoying things about her. It was not fair that she could fall asleep in under five minutes when Rosetta couldn’t even stay asleep unless she was anywhere but a bed.  
She wanted to move position but couldn’t with Ellie right there. She didn’t want her to move away from her but then reminded herself that a relationship outside of friendship wasn’t realistic. It wasn’t real and it never would be, no matter how badly she wanted it.

And she wanted it desperately.

She loved everything about Ellie. She loved how gorgeous she was with brown hair and eyes. She loved how she was a sweetheart and loyal and supportive. She loved how she was creative and funny and charming in every aspect and she always smelled great. There was not a bad thing about her. Even when Ellie wanted to experiment with girls, she came to Rosetta purely because they were friends and she didn’t want to go and experiment with a random person when she could test it out with Rosetta, someone she wasn’t interested in dating wise, and have it be a full on test where they both knew that it could simply just be that, an experiment and nothing more.

And yet even then Rosetta still fell hard when she was well aware that it most likely would never work out anyways. She needed to let it go. Ellie had a boyfriend and wasn’t interested in Rosetta. Not anymore.

But it was so hard to get over it when she was with her so much and she didn’t want to loose her friendship.

Her heart ached badly.

Ellie was right there beside her, cuddling with her and yet…. it meant nothing. She was nothing with her when Rosetta wanted to badly to have something beyond their friendship. And no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t shake off how much she was in love with her.

What made it even worse was that even if she found the courage to confess these feelings to her and somehow, Ellie felt the same way, they would have to hide their relationship for their own safety.

Even in the place that she had been able to express and be herself the most, she was still hiding so much of who she really was. Her grand plan was to just graduate and leave and run away from everything in Gatlon and be happy, no strings attached to any part of her life here.

She just wanted to be happy.

Yet no matter what, that didn’t seem like an option and she was terrified of what could happen if she tried. What ever she was able to express at school she couldn’t express at home and whatever she couldn’t express at school she definitely couldn’t express at home on the off chance that someone at her school found out. She had kept everything, even her own EP and music videos, hidden and it wasn’t until this year that she started to make an effort to bring them to things though it wasn’t like they had ever asked nor cared before hand anyways.

The news about who her parents was had gotten out at the end of last year and after about a week, no one cared. Everyone was focused on their studies and wasn’t really interested in anything about the Renegades or Anarchists. In high school, a lot of people just started to grow up and aim for the career they wanted.

It was a refreshing break but that didn’t mean that people didn’t know anything about her family or she still really wanted anyone to know anything. With the media attention always around, there was always a chance that something Rosetta wanted to keep quiet would get slipped out. While she knew her parents and siblings would never say a word, it would always end up being found out anyways and Rosetta couldn’t take that risk especially with her sexuality.

There were still a few people, like one boy at her school named Jack Vales, who were incredibly homophobic and with the world being a better place to come out to now then a while ago, some media sources became more and more daring and would leak people’s sexualities which was messed up and only proved to Rosetta that she couldn’t let anyone know.

The only people who were aware was Danna, Narcissa, and her friend group because nearly all of them, save Ellie and Beck, were not straight or cis. Often times they covered for her. 

However, Rosetta was very open about who her parents were and her sexuality on her TikTok and in her music. The only reason this happened was because the person she was most terrified of finding out, the one kid at her school, didn’t have social media and no one at her school was going to snitch on her. Jack wasn’t even in the music department and didn’t care much for it at all, being in the wood working classes. She also had her TikTok for ages and some how the big tabloids had yet to discover it. It was like a safe haven somehow. She didn’t know why but it was.  
As stressful as it was, as long as that one kid never found out, her life was just the way she wanted it.

But stress still had its toll.

Rosetta got out of the bed, hugging herself tightly as she cried and went to the bathroom to hide. She didn’t want to wake Ellie up and have her find out.

She curled up on the tile floor by the cabinet under the sink, big tears rolling down her cheeks. She didn’t need the mirror to know that her eyes were puffy and swollen and the thought of it just made her sob harder.

Rosetta clamped a hand over her mouth to try and stifle the noise.

She hated how she was in love with Ellie. She hated how she had to hide herself. She hated how she didn’t have powers and how it made her a disappointment. She hated how everyone just seemed to pity her. She hated how no one in her family gave a damn. She hated everything.

Rosetta just wanted her problems to dissolve into nothingness. If not then she wanted to dissolve into nothingness. She had been bottling all of it up so long that she wasn’t sure how much more she could take though all she had to do was make it through the end of high school. But most of all she just wanted to be with Ellie.

Suddenly, in the corner of her eye, something white flickered. She looked around there was nothing and decided to ignore it.

Rosetta rubbed her eyes, wiping away tears when it appeared again, only this time only more clear. It was like a bunch of text and numbers.

She blinked out tears and focused ahead. It became more clear and somehow more confusing.

“Date Ellie  
Chances: 95%” It read. Rosetta let out a small squeak.

It was impossible. She didn’t have powers. She wasn’t a prodigy. This was just some insane hallucination. And yet, she also knew that it probably wasn’t. In middle school, both incidents that had lead to her expulsion she had sort of wanted to happen. She was so upset that she didn’t care what she just wanted something bad to happen to the other person and she wanted to leave school. Both times she got her wishes and both times she remembered a little white blink in the corner of her eye and a shiver run down her spine.

Rosetta then tried to manipulate the numbers.

“Date Ellie  
Chances: 100%” It then read, a shiver running down her spine as she changed it. She then returned it back to the original number. It felt wrong to change that. It made Rosetta feel like she was manipulating Ellie in a way, even though she wanted those chances to be 100% and not 95% despite 95 being a pretty good chance.

Rosetta then tried something else, proceeding to change what probability she wanted to manipulate.

“Koi Fish Swimming In a Pool Of Water Above You Appear  
Chances: 100%”

And just like that there was a blob of water in the air. Two large koi fish swam calmly through it. Rosetta couldn’t believe it.

She then made all the numbers and letters disappear and reappear. It was a little hard at first but after a few tries she got a handle over them. It seemed they would work when they weren’t in front of her eyes, but she must not have noticed her abilities for so long because she didn’t know that and she didn’t know how to make them appear and disappear at will.  
Rosetta was exhilarated. She really did have powers. She could probably do anything she wanted.

But she wasn’t going to use them on people or to change how her relationships with people were. That felt like it was wrong and above all, to change the way people treated her just changed them as a whole she didn’t want to change the way people were naturally to be treated how she wanted to be. Rosetta would be better off just finding new people to be around.  
She wasn’t going to tell her family either. She was definitely going to Danna and Narcissa tomorrow to tell them and she would definitely tell her friends, but she wasn’t going to let her family or anyone else know. Not when she had trouble to cause.


	9. Lesbians What is Your Wisdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosetta goes to Danna and Narcissa for advice and takes action.

The next morning, after Ellie and Rosetta parted ways, Rosetta immediately texted Danna and Narcissa as she had a group chat with them.

Me: Real quick is anyone over at your apartment or is coming over soon?

Narcissa: No why?

Me: Need to tell you in person. Be over as soon as possible.

Rosetta quickly got dressed, putting on high-waisted jeans and white t-shirt, throwing a striped button up she stole from her dad overtop. She put on boots and did makeup, not doing much more then, and for once, mascara, concealer, and a shit ton of highlighter.

She cuffed her jeans and scratched Pudge behind the ear before grabbing her bag and leaving, locking her door behind her. She signed out, swiping her pass and going to the train, getting there right as it pulled up.

Like normal, she took the smallest car in the back, sitting in her normal seat. As she waited, she listened to music and put on the jewelry she always kept in her little backpack, sliding on a few bulky rings and one of those thick chain necklaces.

The train stopped and she raced out of the station and right to the apartment complex. She slammed the button for the third floor in the elevator until the doors shut and took her up.  
Rosetta opened the door, not even bothering to knock. They knew she was coming.

“Danna! Narcissa! You’re not gonna fucking believe this!” She exclaimed, out of breath as she came in and shut the door behind her.

Danna took a sip from her mug groggily. It wasn’t early in the morning but she always slept in late on Saturdays and Narcissa, ever the early bird, must have finally gotten her up.  
“Could you have at least knocked?” Danna asked, a little annoyed.

“Absolutely not! This is an emergency! Look what I can do!”

“I swear to stars-”

She was cut off by the beams of light radiating off of Rosetta’s hands. She turned it into butterflies and paper cranes made of light, sending them through the room in amusement. Both Danna and Narcissa watched, amazed at what they were seeing.

“You got powers!” Narcissa squealed, clapping her hands excitedly.

“What do you call this exactly?” Danna asked, flicking away some of the cranes and butterflies.

Rosetta made them disappear in a blink of an eye, grinning. “Manipulation over probability. I can do literally anything now! How cool is that!”

“I’m very happy for you but that’s a dangerous thing,” Narcissa commented.

“I can play God!”

“DO NOT!” Danna said firmly.

Rosetta rolled her eyes. “Yeah no shit. I mean I’m just going to use them to mess around with people-”

“Not surprised.”

“-but even if I did play God I can narrow what I want changed down to every single detail so I could prevent a possible catastrophe. The butterfly effect doesn’t exist with this if I don’t want it to.”  
“It’s too early in the morning to contemplate that shit,” Danna sighed, chugging her coffee.

“Danna, sweetheart, it’s 1 in the afternoon,” Narcissa reminded her.

Danna waved her hand, making it clear that she either didn’t care or it didn’t matter or both. Probably both. It was Danna after all. Narcissa rolled her eyes and then tapped the spot on the couch next to her. Rosetta happily sat beside her.

“Alright. Now you’ve got to explain it all to me sweet-pea,” Narcissa laughed, making Rosetta smile. She loved the way her aunt talked like a grandma to her.

Rosetta dove into detail, telling her how she figured it out as it had to do with her situation with Ellie. It was the only reason she was telling them at all. They also only knew she was gay because when Rosetta was confused about it, she went to Danna and Narcissa since they always seemed to know the answers to things. That and Rosetta was pretty sure she was gay and who else would she go to besides her gay aunts.

She then told them how she could see the original odds of something happening and how she could change them in any way. She elaborated on that she could make the topic as specific or vague as she wanted, about anything she wanted. There were no restrictions. The only problem she seemed to find is that she always remembered the changes. She had contemplated making a change that allowed her to make alterations without remembering but figured that she would paradox herself into a brain aneurysm and didn’t really feel like going through all the necessary precautions to stop that, including giving herself the motivation to make them.

As soon as Rosetta finished explaining how they worked she was asked who knew she had powers so far. She told them that they were the only people who did know and aside from when she eventually told her friends, she didn’t really want anyone to know.

Despite how incredible and powerful her prodigy abilities were, Rosetta didn’t really want to use them for much other then causing fun or using them when convenient, like if she was out of flour and needed a little more. She could make her life as perfect as she wanted but didn’t dare to do it. Her abilities proposed a huge moral dilemma and she didn’t want to even go near the rabbit hole it posed which made her just not use it at all almost. Furthermore, she remembered every change she made so no matter how terrible something was, if she undid it the trauma would still be there and the person who caused it would be left unpunished. Even if she undid the trauma of the whole world, she would still have to bare the weight of it and she didn’t deserve that.  
She would just stick to party tricks.

It was probably smarter anyways. If people found out what she could do, accusations would start flying. Rosetta had no doubt in her mind that people would assume that she would use her powers to get whatever she wanted no matter what, even if she would never dare to do that. Many would most likely believe her, but there would always be a lingering handful that wouldn’t. It seemed like there were always people out there trying to cause problems and mess with the lives of people they didn’t even know, but she wasn’t going to give them any ground of scrap of evidence that she might have used her powers like that.

“So you’re really just going to use them to entertain yourself?” Danna asked.

Rosetta nodded. “I know it sounds bad but while you don’t want to discuss the moral and philosophical problems it poses now, I don’t want to even think about them so it’s better to just stay away from those things as a whole. I mean like, if someone I knew was having a hard time getting by I’d use my powers to give them a boost but I’m not going to use them for my own benefit because I don’t want to lose control of myself and I know I could use my powers to sto- You see my mind already hurts talking about it!”

“Okay I see your point,” Narcissa said. “As long as you have good morals.”

“Well I wouldn’t call my morals good. It’s more of a "I’m never going to really use them on myself” type deal and that’s the only moral there is.“

"Really? Not even a "don’t kill people” rule?” Danna asked.

“I mean I’m not killing people but if someone is a rapist they’re gone and I know I could just end rape but you know what, as terrible as that is, I don’t owe the world anything and I’m 17 and shouldn’t have to be the one making a utopia.”

“Alright. That’s fair. You’ve thought this through.”

“Not really.”

Both of them laughed.

“Okay but the real reason I’m telling any of you this is because I’m like 87% sure that Ellie was flirting with me last night and I’m not sure if it would be okay if I were to use my powers to give myself the courage to ask her out. Is that emotional manipulation?”

Danna raised a brow. “I mean maybe over yourself but I think that’s just called being a human being. If you can see the percent of how things are originally then what are your chances of Ellie saying yes if you ask her out?”

“95 percent,” Rosetta sighed.

Narcissa choked and Danna spit out some of her coffee.

“95! Ask her out then!” Narcissa told her.

“But it’s not 100!”

If it wasn’t 100 percent then there was a chance that she would be rejected and she could lose her friendship and no matter how high her chances were, she wasn’t risking that. She never would.  
“I know you won’t change the percentage of it but that’s a whole 95 percent! Just try! You have a good chance of her saying yes so just go for it! When do you see her next?”

“I’ll see her later today.”

“Then if you won’t change your chances with her to 100 then you better change the chances that you have the courage to ask her out before I do it for you because no offense but I’m tired of watching you pine over her and making yourself sad when you have a good chance with her and I’m rooting for you. Alright?” Danna said sternly.

She was right. It was a 95 percent chance that Ellie would agree to go out with her. That was very close to 100 and left little room for error. Maybe the reason she was with James today was to break it off with him and Rosetta was at least 87% sure that Ellie was flirting with her last night. If she didn’t try now, then she never would and if Ellie really did like her, then Ellie would assume that the feeling wasn’t returned and she couldn’t risk that either.

Rosetta took a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll text her to meet me at the music room but if she rejects me I’m never forgiving either of you.”

“I’ll take that risk,” Danna said, finishing off her coffee and placing it in the sink in the kitchen.

Rosetta took out her phone and pulled up Ellie’s number. It was already at the top.

Me: Meet me in the 213B music room on the 5th floor, left wing, in a half hour.

Pineapple: I can meet you there tonight at like 8ish. Why do you need me there though?

Me: That’s fine and it’s a surprise.

Pineapple: You really couldn’t have done this surprise while we were hanging out.

Me: Stop whining and go with it.

She turned off her phone and pocketed it.

“What did she say?” Narcissa asked.

“She said she can meet me there tonight.”

“Good luck but I don’t think you’ll need it. Tell us what she says,” Danna requested, taking a seat in her chair and opening up a book she was reading.

“Well obviously,” Rosetta snorted, pulling out a coloring book from her bag. She always carried little activities for her to do around in her trusty backpack. She also brought her backpack everywhere.

She left her school work there as she only had a few, thin spiral notebooks for class. Her pencil case was also inside but it was always helpful since oftentimes she needed something to write with. Other then that she always had a charger, her phone, her music notebook, coloring books, her jewelry, makeup, chapstick, and a little emergency kit in it at all times.

She found that she should just keep all of those things with her constantly as often she needed one of them, for herself or for her friends it constantly changed but it was good to be prepared in general too.

Rosetta spent the rest of the day with Narcissa and Danna, coloring and telling them about classes and the Showcase as well as working on a power-point she was presenting to her friends at their Christmas sleepover during break. She helped them clean up around their apartment too. She wasn’t a stranger to it either. She was around so often that Rosetta just started helping keep the apartment clean and she knew where everything was too. Danna and Narcissa were like a second set of parents to her.

At seven, Rosetta left and she took the train back to the school, signing herself back in. She went to her room and tidied herself up a little, straightening her shirt and fixing her hair. She then left to the music room.

Rosetta had never been so nervous in her life. This was her make or break moment with Ellie and it could go either way, no matter the odds or statistics.

Ellie came in and sat beside her on the stage.

“So what did you want to talk about? It seemed important.”

“I-umm-” She was panicking.

She couldn’t do this.

“I- got my powers! I got powers!” She exclaimed, heart slowing down a little.

It wasn’t a lie but it also wasn’t what she intended for Ellie to hear.

“Really!” She exclaimed. “That’s great! What is it?”

“I can manipulate probability. I always remember the changes but I can essentially do whatever I want,” Rosetta explained.

Ellie grinned. “Like what?” She asked, leaning forwards and her hand sliding over Rosetta’s.

She thought she would melt, the butterflies in her stomach about to pour out. And yet, the glint in Ellie’s big brown eyes told her that she might genuinely be flirting with her. As nervous as it made her, it also gave Rosetta courage.

She could do this. She took the odds of her being able to confess and turned it up all the way to 100 percent. There was no backing out now.

“Like give myself the courage to tell you that I like you,” she said quickly. “Not as a friend but, as more. I’ve wanted to go out with you for a while and a few weeks into our fling I fell so hard and I know you might not feel the same way and I totally get that but I guess getting it off my chest will help me get over it.”

Tears welled in her eyes as Ellie sat their stunned and upset. She then looked angry almost and regret hit Rosetta like a bus.

“I’m- I’m sorry. I didn’t- I- sorry!” She said, inching away in her own horror, crying already.

Unsure of what was about to happen, Rosetta sprinted out of the music room, running as fast as she possibly could. Water blurred her vision as she sobbed.

She had fucked up their relationship.

She ran into her room and shut the door, collapsing on her bed crying. She held herself tight, Pudge waking up and coming over to her to snuggle and make her feel better. He meowed and purred, worming his way on her lap and letting her hold him tight for comfort.

It did a little, but not much to improve her mood.

She was totally and utterly fucked.

Ellie didn’t look happy about the news and it made Rosetta only hate herself and the decision she made. She couldn’t believe what she had just done. She just wanted to sit by herself and cry.  
Every part of her ached.

Ellie didn’t like her back.

And now Ellie might hate her.


	10. And They Were Childhood Best Friends Oh My God They Were Childhood Best Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's childhood friends to lovers you take a guess about what's going to happen.

There was a soft knock on her door.

“Ro? It’s Ellie. Can I come in please?” She asked gently.

“Look I know you don’t feel the same, you don’t have to console me.”

“I’m coming in and you’re not getting a choice,” Ellie declared.

It took Rosetta by surprise a little. Ellie was generally not very assertive in situations like these and usually just let people or things be if they wanted to be left alone.  
It was no help to her nerves whatsoever.

The door creaked open and Rosetta wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, looking at Ellie cautiously.

She shut the door, holding a stack of three envelopes, each sealed with a glittery, heart-shaped sticker. She handed them to Rosetta.

“What are these?”

“Open them,” Ellie insisted, sitting on the bed next to her but still giving her space. She looked anxious and Rosetta didn’t know why.

Rosetta opened the envelope that had a number one in the top left corner in what was unmistakably Ellie’s handwriting. She opened it gently, careful to not rip the envelope or sticker.  
She pulled out a yellow sheet of paper, a bunch of dried flowers falling off of it and landing on her lap and back in the envelope.

“Dear Ro,

I know you don’t think of me the same and just see this entire fling as an experiment which was what I told you it was. Truth is, I have liked you for a while and probably always will. I don’t know how you got this but I hope you’re not upset. After a few weeks I cut it off because you seemed to be distancing yourself and I thought that you really didn’t see me in any sort of romantic light but it was too late and I was already head over heels if I’m being honest. I thought by breaking it off and distancing myself too, I’d be able to get over it but I just can’t. I loved you then and I love you now and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop so I might as well get it off my chest.

Sorry.

XOXO Ellie”

Rosetta slid it back into the envelope and gently closed it, setting it on the bed.

“Was that- was that a love note from you to me?” Rosetta asked, dumbfounded by what she had just read.

Ellie nodded, laughing lightly. “I know love letters are so cheesy but I needed to get it out of my system so I wrote a few of them and you kept distancing yourself so I thought you didn’t like me back and were politely trying to cut me off because I knew you’d be too afraid of hurting my feelings to tell me that it needed to end.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The reason Ellie distanced herself was the exact same reason Rosetta distanced herself. Both of them had just tripped over their feelings and couldn’t take a hint from the other.

“Jesus Christ,” Rosetta muttered. “I distanced myself because I thought you didn’t like me back because you were distancing yourself.”

“Are you telling me that one of us misinterpreted something and sent us spiraling down into this mess when we could have been dating the whole time?”

“Yeah pretty much,” Rosetta laughed, flopping back on the bed. “Christ we’re a mess.”

Ellie fell back too, laughing and taking Rosetta’s hand in hers.

"We can be a mess together then.”

She held up their interlaced hands and pressed a kiss to Rosetta’s. She felt herself dissolving.

This entire situation was a huge mess and all because they were too scared of rejection. They were so close as friends that they didn’t want to cause any strife in their relationship and were blind to flirting of any degree.

Ellie scooted closer and rested her head on Rosetta’s shoulder, who, in return, wrapped her arms around her and pulled her on top of her.

Ellie still smelled like peppermint, her long brown hair feeling great as Rosetta ran her hand through it, having taken off her rings a bit ago.

“So you’re not mad about my powers either?” Rosetta asked.

Ellie raised a thick brow, confused. “Why would I be mad?”

“I really did just get my powers but I thought that people were going to start assuming that I used them to get things I wanted. That and you looked upset when I told you everything.”

She shook her head. “I was mad at myself for thinking I messed up our relationship and broke things off and hurt you like that when I thought I was giving you what you wanted. I wasn’t upset with you or your powers. Also using your powers liked that isn’t you. You always do things without assistance unless you really need it and you’re just not the person who would use your powers to manipulate people or things around you."

“Oh thank Christ!” Rosetta sighed.

While she was ecstatic over getting her powers, she was still worried that people were going to accuse her of using them to get what she wanted. The only thing Rosetta really thought she would use it for on a mass scale to improve her life, was to get rid of that notion. She never wanted people to think that because to her that was wrong and she shouldn’t have to have to explain that just to achieve what she wanted.

“So I guess we’re girlfriend’s now right?” Rosetta asked. “No more flings or experiments anymore? No more problems?”

“Yeah. We’re girlfriends.”

“I’ve been waiting forever to call you that.”

Ellie burst out laughing. It was just as pretty as music but Rosetta still liked it far better. It reminded her of all the good in her life and all the things she loved in the world.

She leaned in close, her thumb over Rosetta’s bottom lip as she stared at her mouth.

“Can I kiss you?” She mumbled.

“Please,” Rosetta rasped.

Then Ellie’s mouth was on hers, a gentle and sweet kiss. It lasted a few seconds before she pulled away, both of them staring at each other in shock over it.

Rosetta wasn’t satisfied. She had been waiting months to be able to kiss her again and now for the first time, it really meant something.

Rosetta then pulled Ellie onto her lap, legs on either side of her waist. Ellie leaned over and cupped her face as Rosetta ran a hand through her hair and the other up her back. Both of them were being far too greedy.

It felt like electricity rocketing through her veins. It tasted like fireworks and the scent of peppermint that always followed Ellie engulfed Rosetta. Their bodies were so hot that she felt like they were something baking in a too hot oven, ready to burn and set everything ablaze and she didn’t care. It was everything she had wanted and more and somehow better then she remembered when they had done it the first few times.

A giant wave of relief washed over Rosetta. She had realized how stressed or tense she was over the idea of losing one of her life long friendships. She hadn’t even notice all the little cracks it put in her, all of them now being filled and sealed as the stress left now that she didn’t have to worry about it anymore.

Rosetta kissed Ellie harder, biting at her lip, her tongue then running over where her teeth had sunk in. Ellie moaned, enjoying the feeling of it just as much as Rosetta had enjoyed doing it to her.  
Kisses slid into new ones, each touch making Rosetta melt. She pulled Ellie tighter to her as lips went down her neck, nipping gently at her throat, both of them starved for each other. She pressed feather light kisses over her face and blew raspberries, making Rosetta laugh again before she took Ellie’s face into her hand by the jaw. She brought Ellie’s mouth back to hers, an arm snaking around her waist and Ellie’s under her shirt at her side.

They finally pulled apart, both of them taking heavy breaths. Ellie rested her head against Rosetta’s shoulder, arms around her neck and Rosetta’s capturing her waist.

“We should get ready for bed,” Ellie said quietly, breaking apart the comfortable silence they were in.

“Yeah we should,” Rosetta agreed though neither of them moved. “Do you want to sleep here tonight?”

Ellie nodded. “That’d be nice. Also we still have things to talk about. Like James and who’s allowed to know and all that.”

“Okay.” Rosetta pressed a kiss to her cheek gently. “But first I’m going to go shower. I’ll see you in a few.”

She stood up, still holding Ellie before she gently laid her down on the bed. She kept looking at Rosetta with her gorgeous brown eyes and it would have made it impossible to look away had Pudge not started meowing and pawing at Rosetta. She grabbed a pair of pajamas, heading to the bathroom. She heard Pudge meow again as the door opened and closed.

Rosetta put her hair in her cap and jumped in, just washing off her body. She’d wash her hair tomorrow.

It didn’t take long and her pajamas were cozy. She brushed her teeth and washed her face quickly before entering the main room.

Ellie was on her bed, hair back in two braids with pajamas on and Pudge in her lap, having also gotten ready for bed. Rosetta turned out the light and laid beside her, happily snuggling with her.  
They spent the night talking.

Ellie explained that, as Rosetta had assumed, James was actually gay but his parents didn’t know nor supported the community so he asked Ellie to pretend to be his girlfriend since they were close friends due to being in the same math class every year. James had known all about the fling between Ellie and Rosetta and why it was beneficial for Ellie at the moment too.

It made Rosetta feel a lot better. She didn’t actually hate James; she just hated that he was with Ellie. She had an apology to give to him but she would do that later.

At the very least, James would have to know about them dating as well since it would be weird if Ellie and Rosetta were dating and he wouldn’t be aware that their fake relationship would have to come to an end.

After he knew, they were going to tell Danna and Narcissa since Rosetta had already told them about her crush on Ellie. The worst part was that Ellie had told them the same and they just let them pine over each other, not telling them.

They weren’t the only ones who did that either. Rosetta and Ellie’s whole friend group knew the situation with James and about their mutual crushes on each other and said nothing, just watching and letting it play out on it’s own.

Obviously the two girls would tell their friends about their relationship and Rosetta’s new found powers. They were also going to tell Danna and Narcissa. However first they agreed that they were going to mess with them a little.

All of them deserved it for not letting either of them know and not trying to solve the situation that was eating both of them alive but that was something to take care of in the morning.  
Aside from all of them, they weren’t telling anyone. This way they had people to cover for them at school and at home but it also helped guarantee that even if Rosetta’s sexuality got leaked to the media and Jack Vales found out, Ellie would be out of the way.

Rosetta’s biggest concern had always been Jack Vales. He was homophobic but most of the school was gay so no one paid him much attention and he wasn’t very vocal about it. However, he hated Rosetta with a passion and while she had no idea why, she did know the type of person he was and that was the person who would be bigoted and derogatory at people when he was upset.  
If he knew she was just asking for trouble and she didn’t want to risk it and she didn’t want to risk herself or any of her friends being kicked out of GATA. She couldn’t handle that happening again.

However, if he knew that Ellie was Rosetta’s girlfriend then maybe he might do something to her and then he might do something to Kiki, Lana, and Meg as well and Rosetta wasn’t risking any of them either. None of them were necessarily out at school and were discreet about it, but she never wanted to take the chance that they would be hurt, whether people knew or not.

So they would keep their relationship quiet, even from parents, just to make sure that never happened.


	11. Be Gay Cause Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Ellie and Rosetta are dating they're making plans to mess with others about it.

Rosetta sat up and yawned. Ellie was already awake, the comforter pooling at her hips. Strands of hair and fly-aways peeked out of her braids as she pet Pudge.

“Morning,” Ellie said happily. She had always been a morning person.

“Morning,” Rosetta said, returning the grin. “So…. since you made out with me last night and are my girlfriend, will you go to the Snowball dance with me? Since we have to keep it quiet we can lie and say that we’re just going as friends.”

Ellie slipped her hand into Rosetta’s. “That works. I think for our friend’s punishment we should tell them that we each found a date but not tell them who and then tell them once we get ready and take pictures. Or something like that.”

“Ellie you are a genius.”

She flipped her braids over her shoulder and smiled cockily. “I know.”

Rosetta burst out laughing as she got out of the bed, grabbing Pudge’s collar with his tag on it putting it on him. There was a little chip in it that allowed him to pass through the little animal doors around the place. This way he could go eat and drink and use the bathroom and play with other cats in the little day care center for him down the hall.

Most of the time during classes he preferred to stay in Rosetta’s room so she would send him out in the morning at breakfast and put him back in her dorm when she was finished.  
Knowing what the collar meant, Pudge leaped off the bed and left the room through the cat door.

“I think I’m going to text Danna and tell her that I got rejected. I mean we can tell her the truth next week but I want her to wonder why for a little bit,” Rosetta suggested.  
“That’s so mean. She’s going to feel bad,” Ellie said.

Rosetta bit her lip as she pulled her hair back in a ponytail. “Fine. What if I tell her the truth by the end of the night then because she left us both sitting in our feelings without telling us for months.”

“Alright that’s fair,” Ellie agreed.

Rosetta grabbed her phone from where it was charging on her nightstand.

Me: DANNA SHE REJECTED ME! I TOLD YOU IT WASN’T GOING TO WORK!

Danna: WHAT!

Narcissa: Are you kidding me? Impossible!

Me: You know how I said that if it didn’t work I wasn’t going to forgive you? That’s going into effect now.

Me: and don’t you dare tell anyone else about this because I’m not sharing my embarrassment.

She turned off her phone giggling. They deserved this.

“Come on. Let’s go eat. I’m hungry,” Ellie said, getting out of the bed and putting on her slippers. Rosetta slid on her flip flops that she wore around the school, then grabbed her ADHD medication, and they left, Rosetta locking her door behind them.

The cafeteria wasn’t as packed as it was during lunch, but it was still very full as lots of students stayed there year round except for breaks.

They got in line, grabbing trays and putting food on their plates. Rosetta got blueberry pancakes with a cup of apple juice and Ellie got waffles and strawberries and chocolate milk. They sat beside each other at their normal table and Ellie texted someone on her phone while Rosetta took her medication.

In a few minutes James sat at their table across from them.

“Okay so we both owe you an apology,” Ellie said. “For starters you were right. Rosetta does like me and we’re together now.”

Rosetta, realizing what this was about, understood that now was her chance to be on good terms with James.

“I’m sorry for being a huge dick to you. Honestly I was trying to not be I just got…”

“Really jealous?” He snorted.

Rosetta nodded. “Yeah.”

“It’s cool. I totally get it. I was flirting with this guy for ages and then the next day he went out with another boy and I was so mad. I hated his date even if it wasn’t their fault,” James laughed. He held out his hand for her to shake it. “So we’re cool now?”

Rosetta gladly accepted it. “Definitely. Though I am sorry that I’ve taken your fake girlfriend.”

“However,” Ellie said. “The two of us can continue this little charade until the time is right. This way no one hurts any of us.”

As she said that, she felt like there were eyes drilling into her back. She turned her head, looking for who was watching her but didn’t see anyone that wasn’t in a group and minding their own business. She waved it off.

“You good?” Ellie asked.

“Yeah I’m fine I just got a weird feeling.”

Ellie shrugged. “I bet you it’s nothing.”

“Yeah probably.”

“Anyways?” James said, a little confused. “It’s cool. I mean it’s senior year and I already have a part time job that will become full time when I graduate so I already have my escape plan from my parents. Just got to graduate.”

“I know the feeling,” Rosetta said.

She truly did. She loved her parents but she wanted nothing more then to graduate and leave. She just wanted to be on her own and live her life how she wanted.

James looked at his phone as they finished their food. “I’ve got to go. My friend Amy needs me. I’ll talk to you guys later.”

He got up and left the table, leaving Ellie and Rosetta with their empty plates. They put them away and left the cafeteria, going back to Rosetta’s room and picking up Pudge on the way there.  
They spent the rest of the day there, Ellie working on her embroidery as she played with the cat and Rosetta finally washing her hair.

It was a lazy day, both of them just mulling around and not doing much other then cuddling and sneaking kisses. It wasn’t until Rosetta realized it was dark out that she should tell Danna and Narcissa the truth.

She opened her messages and read through all the missed ones from Danna and Narcissa, all of them apologies. She also had other messages in her group chat with Ellie and their friends, Ellie telling them about how her event yesterday went. She ignored all the messages from that chat as Ellie had given her an in depth description of what happened that afternoon.

Me: Okay so Ellie did say yes and we’re dating now, still not telling anyone though for safety reasons.

Me: Don’t get mad at me because you deserve this for knowing that both of us liked each other and not telling us this when you could have solved the problem and instead just watching us pine and fuck up and cry.

Danna: MOTHERFUCKER ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

Narcissa: You are as cold as your mother.

Me: As if you two can’t be that cold either. You have nothing on me. You had this coming.

Narcissa: She’s right. She makes a fair point.

Danna: Fine but I won’t forget this.

Me: Didn’t expect you to and in the mean time, I will not forget that you didn’t tell us and instead made fun of us as you let us wallow in our feelings.

Me: Check and mate.

Rosetta wasn’t going to lie, she got a kick of satisfaction knowing her revenge plan worked just the way she wanted it to. Maybe it was a cold hearted thing to do but she couldn’t say she regretted it.

“I told them,” Rosetta said.

“What was their response?” Ellie asked, adding another stitch to her work.

“Danna is pissed but both of them admit that they had it coming.”

“Damn right they did,” Ellie muttered before peeling off of Rosetta. “Beck texted me that he’s on his way over and so are the others.”

Ellie then pressed a kiss to Rosetta’s cheek and squeezed her hand, gathering her things, including one of Rosetta’s sweatshirts but Rosetta wasn’t going to argue with her doing that quite yet.

“I’ll see you later. Goodnight.”

“Night.”

Rosetta cupped her face and quickly kissed her again. She wanted to hold her forever and kiss her over and over again, but she knew that their friends would be coming back soon and if they wanted to have their fun messing with them, then they should stop while they were ahead.

Ellie got up, hand still in Rosetta’s. She lingered as long as possible but eventually left as Beck came in, winking as she did.

It was going to be an interesting week, not just because it was Spirit Week for the Snowball dance, but because they were going to be playing games with everyone and that, in and of itself would be fun.


	12. Ellie Appreciation Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spirit week starts and they all spend time admiring Ellie's embroidery.

Rosetta woke up to Pudge pawing at her face and rattling her medicine case which was in his mouth right by her ear. It wasn’t unusual as he knew when she had to get up for school in the mornings. He was a very good cat and she had trained him well.

She sat up, letting Pudge fall on her lap and hop off the bed as she remade it, taking her ADHD medication directly after. Beck was still sleeping as Rosetta, while she didn’t like mornings, generally had more to do, like wrangling her hair and makeup. When it came to hair and makeup Beck just brushed his out, put on a beanie, t-shirt, flannel, and jeans, and then brushed his teeth and put on eyeliner before leaving.

Her morning was not as simple.

Rosetta went through her normal routine, detangling her curls with some spray and a comb. She got dressed, picking a random style for the day and deciding on a more feminine look. Some days she wanted to be feminine, other days she wanted to be masculine, though most days she chose a weird blend of them.

She grabbed hair ties that had brightly colored puff balls on them, as it was color day for spirit week, and put her hair into ponytails.

By the time she was done with those two things alone, Beck’s alarm was going off. He groaned and turned it off, remaining in bed. He also was not a morning person and Pudge sought to take care of that, screaming his head off from his box on top of the closets asRosetta went and brushed her teeth and did her makeup.

“Alright. Alright. Pudge I am up,” Beck said and she heard the moving of his sheets as he made his bed.

She rolled her eyes as she put on highlighter, it happened every day. She finished her makeup, deciding to play around with a set of eyeliner paints Kiki had given her and do makeup eyeliner. Some days it was fun to be flashy and she was in a very good mood.

Of course the fact that it was color day for spirit week also compelled her to do that, but she didn’t have to be as extra about as she did. She was thankful that Lana had also decided to go big or go home as when they all stepped out into the hall, Rosetta letting Pudge run off to the sitting room, all of her friends had just chosen to wear a t-shirt or hoodie that was multicolored except for Lana and Rosetta.

Lana had on a rainbow pair of jeans and wore them with a holographic crop top with matching sunglasses despite being inside, even going as far to color her bangs using hair chalk. She had on a rainbow choker and rainbow Ombre eyeshadow with glittery silver lip-gloss, her nails being painted a different color in rainbow order.

Rosetta had taken a different approach. She never had a set style, just a different one each day depending on her mood. She had decided on a fishnet stockings and running shorts on, a spaghetti strap rainbow dress on over top and giant, holographic platform boots with several buckles on. As for makeup she had pastel rainbow eyeliner and mascara with her normal highlighter and black lipstick to go with, giant rainbow earrings dangling from her piercings. She left the rest of her jewelry the same as normal, a safety pin through her septum with the other nose ring in. One ear was covered in little black hoops with the industrial rod in and the other had a snake that winded through all her piercings in her cartilage on that ear. She had on her chain necklaces and the bulky rings she always wore on as well and the silver reflected all the color around them.

“You guys are going to be cold walking around campus,” Kiki warned. “Both of you go get jackets or something.”

Rosetta listened, sighing and getting her leather jacket from her closet and throwing it over as it at least went with her outfit. Lana listened as well and managed to find a denim jacket to go with. It wasn’t freezing outside and at this point Rosetta had adapted to the cold but she was glad that Kiki had made her get a jacket. Of course she wasn’t going to tell Kiki this.

“You are all cowards who fear the power of the outfits we would have without these jackets,” Lana said as they went to the cafeteria for breakfast. “Also Ellie are you wearing Rosetta’s hoodie?”

She raised her brow with suspicion. Rosetta had known Ellie took her hoodie but she hadn’t realized that Ellie had taken her favorite one, a rainbow tie-dye sweatshirt that had her last name and a list of different cities on the back. She had gotten it after competing in a skateboarding competition alongside Kiki who had a matching one.

All of their friends were confused as it was the sweatshirt Rosetta never lent or shared with anyone, not even Ellie, and with Ellie having just exited a relationship suddenly, there was no doubt in her mind that they were all questioning how hetero the intentions really were.

None of them said anything about it after that though, all of them getting in line for food and talking excitedly about the activities the day held.

In spirit week, since it was right before the Snowball dance and therefore winter break, they barely did anything all day. In classes they all just messed around and played games until after lunch when it was grade wide activities.

This morning they’d have what was called their ‘core classes’ which were the mandatory classes they had to take by the government’s regulations. It was just science, math, English, and history and they rotated on a schedule, only ever having 3 out of 4 a day, the same going for their afternoon classes which were all based off of the study of their choosing.

Usually in the afternoon she’d have an arrangement of music composition, video and audio production, Vocals 4 and then the gym class. It wasn’t exactly a choice class as gym was mandatory but there was a list of options on what you could do in gym every year aside from things like First Aid and Sex Ed. However those wouldn’t be happening due to the afternoon activities. Normally she’d be upset about this as she loved those classes more then anything at school but she knew that she’d still be having plenty of fun this afternoon.

Color Day focused mainly on the art, fashion, and film students, all of their pieces being up like a museum for the students to explore. It didn’t seem like much but there were a lot of art students and a lot of students in general so it would take a bit to get through everything.

Rosetta was most excited about Lana and Ellie’s projects, Lana having taken a bunch of different photos and arranged them into the portrait of her dad as they were very close with one another, only having each other. Ellie on the other hand had taken a giant stretch of muslin cloth and had built a wooden frame to clamp over it. She hadn’t told them what exactly she had made and refused to, wanting to surprise them.

Both of their projects had been displayed in the Starter Showcase for them and Ellie had forbidden them all from seeing her piece.

Once they finished breakfast, Rosetta very much enjoying her toast and fruit, they all split up and went to classes, Rosetta going off to survive her math class. It’s not that Miss Neeman was a bad teacher or anything like that but Rosetta wasn’t amazing at math and it made it worse that her pre-calc class was always first in the morning. While at least Beck was in the same math level and had the same issues with it, he was lucky and had it later.

All year every year she had a solid C and it never exactly got higher, no matter how hard she tried or how much people helped. It was a lot better compared to middle school now that she was in a better environment but it still was far from her strong suit and she had accepted that fact.

But at least a C was average and she had A’s in all her other classes. It wasn’t like math was the strong suit of most people anyways. It wasn’t her fault that her sisters were geniuses and it didn’t make her dumb at all, the standards she had to meet were just higher. Rosetta was good at a lot of things that they weren’t good at but the problem was they weren’t as valued as academics.

She wasn’t quite sure why it really mattered anyways. That was something she’d never understand. But even if it did, it’s not like she would ever want to be anything like her sisters. She was always compared to them and as long as her skill in things were always vastly different, she wouldn’t be compared as much which was something she had figured out quickly.

Miss Neeman passed out a worksheet. It was one meant for little kids where you did the addition or subtraction problems to get an answer and then that answer corresponded with a color to use. Since it was winter it was a gingerbread house, Rosetta immediately decided that she would solve the problems and ignore the color code entirely because she knew what a normal gingerbread house looked and tasted like and it sucked. She felt like making it different shades of purple with doodles of frogs on the roof and in the icing yard.

Miss Neeman wouldn’t mind anyways and like all the teachers, often encouraged them to be creative and take their own direction. She even gave Rosetta a few bonus points on tests depending on what she drew on the back which was usually flowers or frogs or random 1930s cartoon style characters. Other times she made comedic comics but those took a bit of thinking that she usually didn’t have because even though she got more points for the comics, you couldn’t force funny.

Rosetta solved all the problems easily and then took out her pencil case, earbuds in and blasting music. She quickly doodled all the little frogs everywhere and then found every shade of purple she had in her pencil case. It ended up looking almost like a stained glass window and she was happy with that outcome, turning it in so she could then go back to her seat and doodle in her current notebook.

Miss Neeman stopped her before she could.

“Miss McLain come here,” she said quietly, holding up her test and smiling.

She unfolded it and gave it to Rosetta, an A+ on the front. She had gotten a 100 on the test and it was her third A of the marking period, setting a new record for herself as she usually got a low B or high C, sometimes a D if it was really hard.

Rosetta had thought that the reason the test was easy was because she was doing bad and it made her worried as she had studied for a while the week before because she hadn’t really understood it that much at first. She studied for all her tests but she had put lots of effort into this one.

“Rosetta I think this finally might be your year for math. Your grades have been getting better and better,” Miss Neeman told her. “And your drawing was very lovely. You can keep the test and I like the frogs you added to your gingerbread house.”

“Thank you Miss Neeman,” she said brightly, looking at the test happily.

She had gotten a few points off, little mistakes here and there, but the drawing of a field of flowers had taken her up to a 100. She didn’t care though, she was too proud of herself.  
Rosetta put the test in her bag, taking out her journal in replacement. Recently, aside from all the lyrics and notes and song concepts she had scrawled into it, she had been drawing ideas for tattoos.

Her dad had given himself some when he was 16 and she’d be 18 in a few weeks. She didn’t know where the kit was but she thought it would not only be cool to have a tattoo. She also was ready to reign even more chaos upon her family. No one would be surprised by her having tattoos, but she could see them being a little surprise at the age she got them and how. At least when her dad gave himself tattoos he had good intentions for others in mind. Rosetta was just doing it because she could which was why she did most things but her dad might have been willing to give her the kit if she persuaded him enough.

Taking out a pen she drew a triangle with a raven in it, wings outstretched. She drew five snakes spawning off it and filled in the rest of the space with random lines, making different shapes. She intended it for her to go on her hand but before she could bother to fill it the bell rang and she packed up.

She went through the rest of her classes, having English and with Lana and Meg and then science with Ellie, and James, though before she had ignored him, right after. It felt like barely any time had passed at all by the time lunch was over and they were finally free to roam the school campus.

The first thing their group did once they were let loose upon the school was go to find Ellie’s piece. It was all the way at the back of the campus and there were enough students that it could have been a fight to get there.

“Come on,” Ellie said, dragging them down the path. “It’s in the culinary building!”

She was bubbling over with excitement and it had to be one of the most adorable things Rosetta had ever seen. Their group weaved through other people and through the winding halls of the culinary building. She took them to the second floor and at the back of the hall right by one of the giant windows was her piece.

It was incredible.

The muslin cloth was stretched tightly in the massive frame, the piece towering over Rosetta. Ellie had used shades of pink and red and orange with some white thread to make a woman in a flowing dress. The woman was also completely surrounded by lush flora, using vibrant green threads and then the same threads used to make the woman.

The face was cut off at the tip of the nose, the head angled so you saw the left side of her face, hands cupping her cheeks gently. She had one leg beneath her and another out in front of her, but bent. The fabric spilled around her and turned into blooming flowers and leaves and other plants.

Different thicknesses of string and different textures had been used on it. She could see the different types of stitches used from the back where there were bundles of string knotted and trimmed to keep it all in place. Ellie’s signature was stitched in at the bottom and there was a plaque on a pedestal next to it with her name and the title of the piece.

“Aphrodite,” it was labeled.

It was large and detailed and Rosetta knew that Ellie must have used her powers so she could fly to reach exactly where she wanted so she wasn’t crawling over the frame. Regardless, it was incredible.

“Ellie this is so cool!” Kiki exclaimed, reaching out and touching it, hand running over the embroidery work. It looked very soft and Rosetta couldn’t help but touch it either, satisfied that her assumption on the way it felt was correct.

“I see why you wanted it to be a total surprise,” Rosetta said.

“How long did it take?” Lana asked.

“I’ve been working on this every day for at least one hour since the first day of school,” Ellie said.

“That’s math I can’t do,” Beck said.

“4 months,” Meg said, amazed. “But a lot of hours.”

“Okay so math none of us can do,” Rosetta laughed.

“I’ve spent a little over 98 hours on this,” Ellie said. “So math that only I can do. Though to be fair I had a running timer going whenever I worked on it.”

She was very proud of herself and she had every right to be. As students passed they looked amazed by it as they should have been.

Lana then pulled a camera out of her backpack. “Meg would you like to assist?”

Meg nodded and summoned a spirit to hold the camera. Lana forced them all to gather around the frame. She set up the camera and explained to the spirit on how to take the picture before joining the group herself. The spirit got a couple pictures before Lana took back the camera and Meg dissolved him back into nothingness.

“So what are you going to do with the piece?” Lana asked as she put the camera back in her bag.

“I’m letting the school keep it on display. It’s not like I have anywhere to put it,” Ellie said.

“It is a beast,” Beck said, admiring it.

Their group floated around the piece for another few minutes before they continued to explore all the pieces scattered around the campus. There were sculptures and paintings, origami pieces and other embroidery projects up. Photos were hung everywhere and students had taken all they could find to put together something more grand.

Even though they had already seen Lana’s piece before, all the photos into the college of her father, it was still exquisite. She had worked hard to get the perfect pictures for the exact colors needed, often stopping at random to pull out her camera, fiddle with the settings, and then take the picture. Sometimes if one of them was wearing an outfit in a color she liked she would force them to sit still for a picture. It had been a little annoying but no one was mad at her for it. All of them could get very intensely into their projects and this one meant a lot to Lana since it was for her father.

However, despite how incredible Lana and Ellie’s pieces were, Rosetta’s favorite piece made was the giant tunnel two students constructed. They had been working on it since the beginning of their freshman year, collecting mass amounts of glass from wherever they could get them. The two kids had gotten the help of some of the welding and metalworking students enlisted to help make the frame before they fused together the glass into the frame, making a kaleidoscope you could enter.

It had taken them ages to accomplish it while they worked on other pieces for class but Rosetta thought it was worth it. The arch was now displayed on one of the paths, students going in and out of it and taking pictures.

As their friends meandered around the path ahead of them, Ellie slid up next to Rosetta and took her hand, squeezing it tight. They both shared a look and then turned to face ahead of them, Ellie running forwards and dragging Rosetta along.


	13. Clementines Are For Homosexuals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somedays you just have to go crazy go stupid for a clementine and a pretty girl.

The week was both exciting and hectic with pep rallies, grade competitions, and watching people dress weird everyday for pictures that would no doubt go into the yearbook. But by Friday afternoon as they all ate lunch, they were all buzzing.

It was surprisingly warm out so Rosetta and her friends had decided to eat up on the roof of the Student Building which was both the largest and the tallest of all the buildings, having seating on the roof to help accommodate for all the kids wanting to eat outside when it was nice out.

They weren’t the only ones with that idea, students, though mostly the older ones, were crammed up on the roof. Kids sat along one of the stages and piled around the lunch tables. They sat at the edges, leaning against the little fence or just ate on the floor. Some were admiring the amazing view of both the campus and the city around it while others passed around things for fun.

Despite the excitement and restlessness for the Snowball dance that night and for the start of winter break, it was Rosetta’s least favorite day. It was also Ellie and several other student’s least favorite day. It was Superhero Day.

No one exactly went above and beyond with costumes but a lot of people had little R pins on them or some people wore t-shirts based on both real life and fictional heroes. It was most disturbing for Rosetta as a lot of it was based on her family.

Kiki elbowed her playfully as she sat next to her at the table, setting her tray down.

“What? You went all out for the other days but you won’t do anything for Superhero Day?” She laughed.

Rosetta rolled her eyes. “You know I hate it. Besides I’ve copied Lady Indomitable’s genetics down to a t, I think that’s about as big as it gets.”

“Why Lady Indomitable and not your parents? Don’t forget about you mom’s genes.”

“I like my grandma way better.”

All of them laughed. It made what was normally a very uncomfortable day for Rosetta a little bit better. Her friends didn’t dress up either though thankfully. They knew that Rosetta and Ellie both hated it entirely and since they all had met several of the people students dressed up as, it was probably uncomfortable for them too. It was easy to idolize someone you didn’t know firsthand. That and despite how much Rosetta did truly love her Grandma Georgia, even if she had never met her, it was always a bit of a pain to see her idolized. It was primarily because everyone compared Rosetta to her and seeing it was just a reminder of all Georgia was and all Rosetta wasn’t and she cared very little for that most of all.

Ellie then broke apart a clementine and started passing a slice to everyone. Everyone accepted it and ate it as she did it every day at lunch. Whether it was an orange, a tangerine, or something similar, every day she would peel it and then pass out the slices. What was new was that she got two.

She started handing Rosetta more pieces and Rosetta was fine with this. It wasn’t something the two of them had done in a while, making it clear that she was back into the position of being Ellie’s favorite person now that she was no longer with James.

Lana raised an eyebrow and all four of them looked at them suspiciously as Ellie passed slices to Rosetta. However they didn’t say anything.

“Alright lunch isn’t over yet and I’m already bored,” Beck then sighed, shifting the focus to him as he leaned back so his head was touching the ground as there were no backs to the seats.

“Then go to your room and get ready,” Meg said, reaching over and flicking his forehead.

“That won’t take up enough time,” he complained but then his eyes glinted mischievously as he spotted Ellie’s second clementine. He grabbed it off her tray. “Gonna borrow this real quick.”

“Give me my fruit back.” Ellie said, humoring him. “I’d like to eat it, thank you very much.”

“You’ll get it back in a second.” He then turned to Lana. “Catch!”

She caught it and passed it to Meg who passed it to Kiki who passed it back to Beck. Ellie easily could have stopped it with her powers but she didn’t, instead making it zip through the air faster, joining in on the fun.

Rosetta got out of her seat and started running backwards.

“BeLo go long!” She yelled.

He nodded and shot it at her. Rosetta jumped up to catch it, leaning back and falling right over the fencing of the roof. She heard them scream as she grabbed the clementine from the air, cascading over the side of the building.

Rosetta snapped herself into reality and caught herself on the window ledge of the floor below her. Ironically, it was a window outside one of the infirmary rooms.

“Rosetta!” Ellie shrieked, leaning over the fence and using her powers to keep Rosetta suspended in the air, even though she was hanging on by the ledge. Beck then threw a shield beneath her to catch her if need be as other students started to look over as to what was happening.

Even though she was barely hanging on and she had fallen off of the roof of a ten story building, she wasn’t scared. If anything, the adrenaline pumping through her body made her excited and the brief feeling of the wind around her as she fell was nice.

“I caught the clementine guys!” Rosetta said proudly, holding it up.

“That’s great but are you okay?” Meg asked, worried and frightened.

“I have this all on camera,” Lana laughed, way less worried about the situation as she held up her phone to get a better shot. “I’ll send the video to the group chat, don’t worry.”

“Yeah just give me a second,” Rosetta said as she kicked at one of the windows. “I’m going into the nurses office!”

A very surprised nurse took notice and opened the window, helping her in as students outside cheered and applauded her.

“Hey Miss Carno!” Rosetta said. She had become very familiar with the nurses over the years.

“What in stars name happened?” The nurse, Miss Carno, demanded, pushing her onto one of the beds and beginning to inspect her for any marks or injuries.

“We were tossing around a clementine and I jumped to reach it but I was too close to the fencing and fell over. I’m fine though. I caught myself on the ledge and my friends used their powers to keep me from hitting the ground. It was actually kind of fun.”

“Oh stars. Why is it always you that comes here Miss McLain?” She asked, sighing as she signed Rosetta in and began a checkup.

Rosetta had wound up in the nurse’s office due to freak accidents often, ironically. In the start of the year she had to come in because she fell off her skateboard and messed up her knee. She also accidentally fell onto a ping pong table and had it collapse on her a month ago. She had a door slammed on her face and Beck had to carry her to the nurse because she was knocked out though somehow, completely fine.

And those were the more normal instances. The weirdest one she had up until falling off the roof had to be when they were eating outside, enjoying a nice picnic when a snake slithered onto their blanket. Rosetta had just picked him up gently, going to send him on its way when another snake lunged at her for holding the first one. Somehow she caught that one by the throat to and held them for a while as her friends packed everything up before she tossed them away and Rosetta and her friends sprinted back inside. Meg had made her get herself checked out just in case though she ended up being fine.

“I don’t really know. I swear everything that lands me here has no one to blame. It sort of just happens.”

“Maybe you should be more careful,” Carno warned as she checked some things off on a clipboard.

“Again I wasn’t being irresponsible it sort of just happens. I’ve had to be careful for too much of my life to want to be overly cautious when I don’t have to be.”

Rosetta just shrugged and Carno sighed.

“You’re fine. Bring this paper to me the first day back from break, signed by your parents please but other then that you can sign out and are free to go,” Carno told her, handing her a sheet. “I’ll send an email to your parents.”

Rosetta read it and realized that it was a form to alert her parents that she had fallen off the roof. However since she was fine and prodigies were a thing, it wasn’t something major enough for a call home but an email was necessary.

“Alright. Thanks Miss Carno. I’ll try not to get hurt again!” Rosetta said as she swiped her pass to check out of the infirmary, taking the little paper slip that shot itself out of the machine along with her.

“Please. Your file is too large.”

“Oh I know,” Rosetta laughed, shaking the little paper slip. She knew exactly just how many she had. For some reason she just never threw out the slips and decided to hang them up on her bedroom wall at home. Since freshman year, she had amassed 63 slips, this one now being her 64th and she only needed a few more to entirely fill the space she had laid out for the passes. Again, she never tried to get hurt. She just had either the best or worst luck as bad things happened to her that made her have to go to the nurse but each time she ended up being fine.

“Dear stars,” Carno sighed, rubbing her temple.

“You’re the best Miss Carno!” Rosetta said as she left, going back to the roof to collect her things. She ran into Kiki who looked relieved to see her.

“Oh thank goodness!” Kiki sighed.

“Yeah I’m fine. Sort of just want to get my stuff but I do recommend falling off the roof. It was actually a nice experience since I didn’t splatter on the ground,” Rosetta joked.

Kiki rolled her eyes and smiled. “Glad you’re alright but I’m not letting you go off another roof ever again and I’m not going to jump off a roof anytime soon either. Can’t believe I have to say this.”

She then pulled out her phone and texted into the group chat, alerting their friends that she had found Rosetta and were heading back.

On the roof her other friends had already gathered, everyone getting ready to leave lunch and then prepare for the Snowball dance.

Rosetta took Ellie’s hand in hers and placed the clementine in it, folding her fingers over it.

“You wanted this back right?” She asked grinning, pulling her hand away and grabbing her backpack. She put the paper Carno gave her into it and grabbed her tray.

“Alright no more tossing things around. I can’t bring Rosetta back from the dead because of a stupid clementine when we all want to hang out,” Meg said.

“Hey clementines are not stupid,” Lana laughed as they went downstairs to the cafeteria to turn in their trays before going to their rooms.

Even though she was surrounded by her friends, she had an odd feeling about someone following her. She turned her head back and looked all around but she didn’t see anyone aside from her friends.

Rosetta waved it off. It was probably a side effect of falling off the roof anyways.

“You know I love clementines and all- don’t get me wrong- but sometimes it is hard to enjoy them when they make your tongue burn for like three days after,” Rosetta said as she put her tray away.

“What do you mean your tongue burns for three days after?” Beck asked.

“Like when you eat one your tongue stings for a really long time,” Rosetta said, confused as to why he was confused. “Do you- do you all not get a burning sensation after you eat a clementine?”

They all stared at her.

“Rosetta I think you’re allergic to clementines,” Ellie said.

“How did you not know your tongue wasn’t supposed to burn?” Lana asked.

“I just assumed we were all willing to suffer for foods we enjoy,"Rosetta said, in awe that she was the only one who felt this way. And disappointed that she was allergic to them. She was willing to push through the pain for a clementine and now that they all knew she was allergic they would keep her from eating them.

"No,” Kiki said as they went to the hall where their rooms were. “Rosetta you’re allergic.”

“Great,” she huffed. “First kiwi and now this!”

Rosetta was deathly allergic to kiwi. It was a shame because she loved kiwi but her throat had almost completely closed when she was little the very first time she had it. She had scared the shit out of her parents since they fed her some and then a few minutes later she came up to them trying to tell them that her throat didn’t feel right but was unable to say the words. Of course she was immediately taken the hospital and was fine but her parents kept a close eye on her for a while after the incident.

Rosetta entered her room and both Beck and her began to put the last of their things away. They were packing everything up completely for winter break. While their decorations stayed up, after classes all week they had been deep cleaning and collecting all their belongings.

Both of them had already retrieved all of their instruments, Rosetta getting her cello and her guitar while Beck had gone and checked out his ukulele, guitar, and flute. Like Rosetta, and all the music students, Beck played several instruments.

Beck could play drums, guitar, flute, melodica, and piano. Rosetta played the cello, harp, guitar, drums, piano, and trumpet. She had learned harp, drums, and guitar at school but learned the rest on her own. Since she wasn’t able to rough-house as much as the other kids, her parents let her play all sorts of different instruments to keep her occupied.

Beck wasn’t much different. When he was little he had heart problems and instead turned to music. Eventually he got a completely synthetic heart and he needed check-ups for it every year, but it was part of what allowed for them to get so close with each other. Both of them had physical setbacks when they were little and were the only kids in the neighborhood that had them, resulting in both of them just playing with each other since neither of them would get mad or upset at the other for asking to slow down the pace.

Rosetta put the last of her clothes into her duffel and organized everything she was going to use before she left tomorrow morning. She sat on her bed and began to edit another YouTube video so she could upload it. She was almost done with the edits needed for the music video but she was still putting another video up aside from that.

She finished making the altercations and did one last run through of the video before uploading it and setting her laptop aside.

It was getting late and it was time for her to get ready for the Snowball dance anyways. Beck himself had just begun to get ready, turning on some music.

Rosetta found her dress hanging in the closet. It was a baby blue, reaching a few inches above her knees with a loose and flowey tulle skirt. It had a halter neckline with a waistband and flowers decorating it.

She put it on and then slid on the matching heels, wrapping the laces well up her legs. She then swapped out all her jewelry, changing it from silver to gold. On one ear she had a giant earring that went along her whole ear, placing itself in each hole for balance. In the other she had a bunch of little hoops and studs and cuffs. She then put on a gold choker necklace that had a little light blue gemstone in the center.

Beck had a much different approach, wearing nice black dress pants with a black and red floral print long-sleeve tucked in, a few buttons left open. He had on black dress shoes and a black belt, his nails painted to match. He had also borrowed some of Rosetta’s jewelry, wearing silver rings and a chain necklace to match.

“RJ I see why you wear these rings and necklace nearly everyday. I feel so powerful,” Beck said, playing with them.

“The aesthetic really does make you feel badass doesn’t it?”

“Hell yeah. Need to get me some of my own so I can wear it more often.”

“Maybe I’ll add that to your Christmas gift,” she snorted, flicking him. He gently shoved her and she nearly fell over, Beck grabbing her arm to steady her.

“Sorry. Forgot you’re in heels,” Beck laughed. “Now come on. Let’s go do hair.”

He dragged her to the bathroom where he had set everything up. She didn’t know he had done this but it made her happy. When they were little, even then, Beck had liked his hair on the longer side. Then it was down to his upper chest like Rosetta’s hair now and she would always braid it for him as she practiced on him and her sisters.

However, he still had no idea how to do hair at all and despite how much he had tried, he sucked at it and would just ask Rosetta or someone in his family to do it. So to help her he’d hand her things she needed or hold hair sections in place before she could tie them off.

They fell into an easy rhythm, sectioning her hair into twelve parts and braiding tightly, tying it off once the braid hit the top of her head. Six went up the back of her head and the others went back off the top of her head. They collected the different ponytails left and put it all into one big, high ponytail. Rosetta added in a few hair cuffs, assisted by Beck who picked out the ones he thought would look best with her dress.

“Alright now can you do my hair please?” Beck asked, handing her his comb.

“No,” Rosetta said as she took the comb and started to pull his hair back, doing it for him as he requested.

It wasn’t as long as when they were little kids. In fact he had grown it out very long before cutting it short and donating it a few years ago. However it was back to being longer, hair stopping a little bit past his chin.

Rosetta took some more of the gel and slicked his hair back behind his ears neatly, his black hair shining in the light. She then washed all the gel off her hands.  
Before she did makeup, Rosetta collected all her things she was done using and put them away.

She then washed her face and dried it off before opening her bag.

Beck was doing his own makeup, trying to do his eyeliner. He wore it everyday but still, he struggled. She laughed, watching in amusement as he stuck out his tongue while she began putting on eyeshadow.

It didn’t take long for her to finish her makeup completely. She had spent a lot of time practicing and watching YouTube videos on it as no one in her family was really into makeup so she became self taught.

“I will never understand how you can do eyeliner so easily,” Beck huffed as he finally managed to get his right.

Rosetta shrugged. “Weird talent I guess.”

“Suiting for the weirdest goddamn person I’ve ever met,” he joked, elbowing her.

“If you want weird, look in the mirror.”

He shook his head. “Seriously though. Is my eyeliner good?”

“You look great BeLo,” Rosetta promised. “Now do I look good? Do you think Ellie will think I look beautiful?”

Despite the fact that Ellie and her were together, it was their first dance together which made her nervous. Even more so, their friends didn’t know yet and it would be in character for her to ask that if they weren’t together yet and she was still pining.

“You look perfect. I can’t guarantee that you’re going to have some romantic movie moment where you spot each other and fall in love, but you just might.”

“Good,” Rosetta snorted, checking her phone. It was time to head out for the dance. “Now let’s get going.”

“Wait!” Beck exclaimed, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. “Mirror selfie. Can’t believe you forgot.”

He clicked his tongue and shook his head, taking her phone from her and opening up the camera.

Every year when they had a dance, the two of them would find a mirror and take a picture together. One good one and then another where it was them jumping. Why they did this she wasn’t sure. It was something that had just happened and was now tradition for them.

Beck snapped the first one and then counted down, both of them jumping on three. He took the picture and both of them started laughing looking at it. Their expressions were priceless with the blur of their bodies and clothes.

“Now we can go,” Beck said, giving her phone back to her.

“Yes! Let’s go dance and then eat so much we throw up tonight!”

“Hell yeah!”


	14. I Don't Dance From High School Musical Plays in the Background

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally Rosetta and Co get to go have fun at the Snowball dance. The problem is that Rosetta can't dance.

They all gathered in Meg and Kiki’s room, making sure they had everything and all of them putting their phones in Kiki’s bag.

“If you need me to hold something for you, do it now and not later,” she warned, holding her purse open and out for them to put things in. All of them dropped in some form of gloss or lipstick, even Beck who had both retrieved Kiki’s lipstick and put in his own little tube of lip-gloss. While not all of them were fans of makeup, predominantly Meg, all of them agreed that lip-gloss or lipstick were something to be used on special occasions.

Everyone then put their phones in the bag and Lana dropped in the camera she always carried on her. Kiki’s bag was small and yet it had infinite space. Since her powers meant she could find anything, it sometimes meant she could will science-defying objects into existence and that included her clutch.

All of them looked great, Kiki in her flowing red dress covered in a floral pattern with a matching hijab and stunning makeup. Lana had on a dark blue velvet wrap dress with her hair in a bun, having on little sunglasses and high-top sneakers. Surprisingly, and yet unsurprisingly because it was Lana, it all went together nicely. Meg had on plum dress pants and a matching striped shirt, her cropped hair parted to the right side, dark purple lipstick on to go with.

Of course, Rosetta thought Ellie looked best. She had on a baby pink dress that flared out at her waist, butterflies on the skirt. Her hair had been curled, half up half down with a butterfly hair clip holding it back. She had on sparkling pink makeup with little black eyeliner butterflies at the outer corners of her eyes. She also had on novelty earrings; a set of giant butterflies dangling from her ears.

Both Lana, Rosetta, and Ellie all had an affinity for gaudy earrings. For a while they used to get together and make them but sadly, as more and more things and projects got in the way, it died out. Most of the time Rosetta had safety pins in her ears but she still had a bunch of mini objects to wear as earrings.

The more Rosetta looked at Ellie the more she blushed and Ellie must have been feeling the same as her cheeks went a deep rouge.

“Oh my stars,” Beck complained. “Will you two just kiss already!”

Rosetta shrugged. It was time they found out anyways. “Alright.”

She reached out and cupped Ellie’s face, gently kissing her. Ellie kissed her back, taking Rosetta’s hand in hers. She tasted like strawberries and Rosetta knew that she had used the strawberry lip-gloss she got her last year as part of her birthday gift.

All of their friends’ jaws dropped as Ellie rested her head on Rosetta’s shoulder, Rosetta wrapping an arm around her waist.

“Oh haven’t you heard?” Rosetta asked, grinning wickedly.

“We’re girlfriends now!” Ellie cheered.

“Oh nice,” Kiki said.

“It’s about time,” Meg muttered under her breath, earning a jab in the stomach from Kiki’s elbow.

“Meghana Kumar-Freedman!” Kiki scolded. “Don’t be rude!”

“We were all thinking about it!” Meg yelled in defense.

“Also I have powers now,” Rosetta laughed. “I can manipulate probability.”

“Okay cool but seriously you guys are dating!” Lana exclaimed.

“Yes,” Rosetta said. “I’m surprised you guys are more excited about that and not me getting powers.”

Beck shrugged. “We never cared if you have powers or not nor do we care how you use them. However we’ve been waiting for you two to get together for ages. How long has this been going on?”  
It warmed Rosetta’s heart. It was a small statement, and even though she already knew it, at least now she knew it was completely true that to her friends her powers didn’t matter. If she had them or not or even how she used them, they didn’t care.

“Since last week when I broke up with James. Also we figured out that you all knew we both liked each other and didn’t tell us and I’m never forgiving you for that which is why we didn’t tell you all right away,” Ellie explained. “Also obviously we’re keeping this within our friend group because Rosetta and I don’t feel like being hate-crimed by Jack Vales.”

“Okay that’s fair,” Kiki admitted. “And now that it’s all sorted out and we’re all here we should go to our spot for pictures.”

Everyone agreed and began to leave the room, heading down to the third level where there was an empty hall space by a large window, James meeting up with them for photos as he was still playing his part in the whole charade. The sun was starting to set as they gathered around one of the walls to get their pictures, the lighting being perfect.

Before they could leave for the dance, Lana stopped them.

“Oh no. Ellie and Rosetta are going to get their own pictures together. We’ve been waiting ages and I’m not letting your first dance go without photos together,” Lana insisted.

“Lana we’re not even going to be able to slow dance with each other because of him,” Ellie said. She didn’t need to say who for all of them to know. All of them had been stuffed down by him in some way. Everyone but Beck.

Kiki was pansexual and Meg was biromantic asexual and Lana was a transgender lesbian. Of course, Ellie and Rosetta were gay themselves and if you were including James in the group, he was gay as well. Beck was the only one who wasn’t part of the LGBT+ community. While they were all able to come out to their families safely, save for James, Rosetta was the only one who couldn’t even if she knew that no one would mind it at all.

“Well you still deserve pictures. Now go against the wall!” Lana commanded.

She was so serious about it that Rosetta and Ellie both listened. She had them stand together, holding each other and smiling at the camera until Lana was satisfied. LRosetta wasn’t sure if she was grateful or upset about it either.

Finally, Lana let them all go to the dance, putting the camera into Kiki’s bag.

They went to the bottom floor in the center of the building to the cafeteria where the student council had it completely decked out. All of it was white and shades of blue with glittering lights and swaths of fabrics, balloon arches and giant snowflakes, tables with little tea lights on them and photo walls for students. It was well decorated, everything perfect with music and lights and plenty of food for students to enjoy as they all mingled about.

Beck took Kiki’s bag and went and claimed a table while the rest of them went to the dance floor. The music was loud and she could feel the beat thundering through the floor and throughout her body. She had to scream to talk as all the kids made a mosh pit, Kiki nearly getting lost to it’s pull before they managed to drag her out, Beck finding them along the way.

“We have a table,” Beck yelled over the music.

“Thanks!” They yelled back, dancing and laughing and moving around with each other.

All seven of them were mingling and moving around, grabbing each others arms and swinging each other around, James and Ellie moving between them and James’s friend group. They all took turns dancing with each other and they jumped around and screamed the lyrics of the songs. Rosetta thought she might lose her voice and she didn’t stop messing around until she realized that she was hungry.

Thankfully, Lana was too. It was just them but Rosetta was fine with that, the two of them leaving the group to get food and eat at their table. It was all greasy finger food and both of them were fine with that, helping themselves to mozzarella sticks and stuffed potato skins.

They sat beside each other, talking and laughing between eating.

Rosetta took a bite of one of her mozzarella sticks and the cheese dragged out, making them both laugh hysterically for some reason.

“Lana help me please,” Rosetta cried.

Lana giggled. “It’s punishment for your sins.”

“Homophobia.”

“Uh ma'am, look who you’re talking to,” she said, giving Rosetta a blank stare and then snatching a mozzarella stick off of her plate.

“Hey!” Rosetta yelled as she put her half-eaten mozzarella stick back on the paper plate.

Lana shrugged and finished it. “You have your potato skins. You’ll be fine,” she mumbled, washing it down with a sip of her CapriSun.

The two of them had gathered several CapriSuns as well, putting a few in Kiki’s bag for later as they were fiends for the juice pouch. The others liked them, but not as much as Lana and Rosetta did.

Lana then pulled out her phone and ripped a piece of mozzarella stick off from one of them.

“Hey catch!” She said, tossing it in the air. Rosetta jutted her head out and caught it, laughing.

“I will not let Beck win,” she said after she swallowed, making Lana laugh.

The rest of the night was just as fun with singing and laughing and dancing and delicious food. All of them were grinning, fooling around on the dance floor and at the little table they’d claimed for themselves.

It wasn’t until the slow dance music came on that Rosetta’s mood started to change. It wasn’t fair that she didn’t get to dance with Ellie because of one person. Even if she sucked at dancing, she still wanted to try.

Ellie seemed to notice, grabbing their things out of Kiki’s bag and then her arm.

“Come on. Why don’t we ditch this place for your room?” She asked, leaning close and whispering it to her.

Rosetta grinned. “You always have the best ideas, did you know that?”

She laughed as they left, their heels clattering against the floor and their hands together, hidden between the folds of their dress skirts.

They went into Rosetta’s room and while Rosetta was anticipating getting kissed, Ellie had another idea. She shut the door and turned on music, then wrapping her arms around Rosetta’s neck and resting her head on her shoulder.

Ellie wanted for them to dance.

Rosetta froze up. She wanted to dance with her badly as well but she had no idea what to do.

“What are you waiting for?” Ellie asked, beginning to sway.

“Ellie I can-t- I don’t- dancing? Bad dance,” she stuttered.

“Well then I guess I have to teach you don’t I?” Her girlfriend laughed. “I’ll lead.”

She changed their position, maneuvering Rosetta’s arms so they were around her neck and their bodies were close together. Ellie’s hands were at Rosetta’s waist, pink nails pressing into her. Rosetta was sure that her pounding heart was audible to Ellie but it didn’t seem to bother her much as they moved around the room.

“This is just swaying though?” Rosetta said, confused.

“We’re starting slow,” Ellie said softly.

As they moved around to the music, Rosetta grew more comfortable, and Ellie took it as a sign to keep moving. She showed Rosetta to move her feet the right way, though there was a lot of stepping on toes. Ellie didn’t mind, having a lot of patience for her.

Once Rosetta had the footwork down, Ellie took even more control, going on her toes so she could spin Rosetta. Her tongue stuck out in focus as she made sure that her arm was high enough so Rosetta could go beneath it. Rosetta still had to duck but it was alright. She was having too much fun.

She spun her again and as Rosetta went to face Ellie at the end of the turn, Ellie dipped her, looking down at her smirking. Sometimes she forgot just how strong Ellie was. Sometimes she forgot just how mischievous Ellie was.

Rosetta liked it.

It was an exhilarating experience, sending the feeling of fireworks in her body.

Their lips were inches apart and before she knew it, Rosetta was pressing light kisses all over her girlfriend’s face, making her giggle and leaving golden lip prints on her skin. Ellie jumped onto the bed, her skirt making a little puff around her as she sat on her knees.

Rosetta crawled over Ellie, kissing her gently all over her face. She let out a high-pitch giggle, eyes shut and smiling. She straddled Ellie’s hips, cupping her face and kissing her for real this time, gentle and sweet.

Ellie’s hand gripped her waist and the other gripped her back, nails digging into her skin a little. Rosetta pulled out the butterfly clip keeping Ellie’s hair up and set it aside, letting her fingers run through her girlfriend’s hair.

It still sent electricity through her body whenever they kissed or she ran her hands through Ellie’s hair or when she and Ellie touched each other like this, cupping each other’s faces and holding hands or just holding each other in some way.

Rosetta fell back on the bed and pulled Ellie on top of her, both of them just cuddling on Rosetta’s bed and holding each other. Ellie was stroking Rosetta’s head, fingers gently going over her curls as Rosetta pressed a kiss to her forehead, Ellie then settling her head on Rosetta’s shoulder.

She was content to lay there and they ignored the buzzing of their phones, probably their friends asking where they were as the dance came to a close.

The door opened and Beck stood there, rolling his eyes as he laughed. “Guys I found them!”

“Oh good!” Kiki yelled back. Then a bunch of CapriSuns rocketed into the room. “I know these are yours.”

They all laughed as Rosetta picked them up and put them in her backpack.

Ellie looked at the clock above one of the desks and sighed. “It’s getting late and I need to finish packing.”

“I know,” Rosetta said, a little disappointed. She pressed a kiss to Ellie’s cheek as she got up and collected her things.

“See you guys in the morning,” Ellie said, leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

Rosetta then posted the pictures that Lana had sent to the group chat onto her Instagram and Snapchat. After that Beck and Rosetta finished getting ready for bed and packing up their things. When they finished that task he jumped onto her bed eagerly.

“Spill RJ!”

“On what?”

“On what happened with Ellie! Duh!” He said, grabbing her pillow then holding it to his chest, head resting on his hand with his black painted nails glinting.

Rosetta rolled her eyes and poked him. “Why do you care?”

“Because you two are my best friends and I need to know all the facts? How did you two even get together?”

“Alright fine but you better not tell anyone BeLo.”

“I won’t. Come on you know me. Now tell me everything please!”

She snorted and fulfilled his request. She described her breakdown and all the little signs of flirting at their sleepover. Rosetta told him about how it gave her the ability to manipulate probability and how she used that to give her the courage to tell Ellie so at the very least, she could get it off her chest and move on from Ellie. Then she told him how Ellie ended up returning the feeling and kissed her and then they cuddled and talked until they fell asleep.

Rosetta gave him every single detail, keeping nothing hidden.

“Oh wow. You really popped off with the dramatics huh,” Beck said.

She laughed. “Yeah I guess.”

Beck then put the pillow down and rested his head on it, pulling the blanket over him.

“We should probably sleep since we’re getting up early in the morning,” he said, curling up even though it was her bed.

Rosetta didn’t mind. After all the years they had known each other, full of sleepovers and of course rooming together, the two of them had slept in the same bed many times before. It wasn’t weird and instead felt natural as she laid beside him.

“You’re the best for cuddling with. You’re tall and can hold everyone,” Beck mumbled as he laid his head on Rosetta’s shoulder and she wrapped an arm around him.

“You know you’re two inches taller than me,” Rosetta yawned, unable to open her eyes as her eyelids were too heavy.

“Yeah but you’re taller than everyone else and closest to my height so you can hold me too. Like I said, perfect cuddling material. Besides you wear platforms and heels everyday so you end up looking taller then me anyways so don’t complain.”

Rosetta snorted as both of them drifted off.


	15. Animal Crossing and Angst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winter break is starting so Rosetta gets some downtime with her family before the fun begins.

“I’m home!” Rosetta yelled as she walked through the front door.

“Hey sweetie,” her mom said, looking up from her book, her dad beside her. “How was school?”

“Interesting. I have a paper for you guys to sign though,” Rosetta said, then remembering the paper that Carno gave her to inform them that she had fallen off the roof. However, she didn’t intend on also telling them about finding out about her new allergy. If it wasn’t going to kill her and just made her tongue burn then she would still have a clementine every now and then. By not telling them they wouldn’t stop her and she would be free to eat them at home in peace.

“What happened?” Adrian asked.

“Give me a second to put my things away and I’ll tell you.”

Rosetta went to her room and set her things down, putting her instruments and backpack in the corner and then dumping her clothes in her hamper before putting some of her things away. She found the paper in her backpack along with a pen and brought it to her parents.

“What’s this for?” Nova asked, taking it.

“It’s to make sure that you’re aware that I fell off the roof.”

“You fell off the roof!” They both exclaimed, horrified.

“Yes I fell off the roof of my school. That’s what I said. I don’t know how you missed the email but I’m fine and it happened yesterday. Beck and Ellie used their powers to catch me and it was all good. It’s just that legally they have to tell you this but since I wasn’t actually injured they didn’t call home,” Rosetta explained. She then pulled out her phone, remembering that Lana had forwarded the video to the group chat. “I have a video if you need proof of that.”

“How did you even-” Adrian sputtered as he signed it.

“Beck and I were playing catch with some fruit and I jumped and leaned back but since I’m tall I jumped pretty high and went over the railing,” Rosetta explained, taking back the now signed paper. “I did catch the fruit though so that’s something.”

“Everything that you’ve ever told me about your trips to the nurse’s office makes me question more and more on how you’re still alive,” Nova said bluntly. She then reached out and took Rosetta’s face in her palms, bringing it down to hers to press a kiss to her head. “Please be more careful baby.”

Rosetta shrugged. “I can try but nothing is guaranteed.”

She went upstairs and put the paper into her book bag before grabbing her Nintendo switch and going to the basement to Valerie’s room where her older sister was most likely playing.  
All of them had gotten Nintendo Switches for Christmas last year; Valerie’s in red, Rosetta’s in yellow, and Eva’s in blue like always. When there were three girls all close in age with each other, they all tended to get similar things. It didn’t happen as much anymore now that they all had their own separate personalities, but still when they got matching items each of them had their own color. All of them also had the same color when it came to wrapping paper of the color or marker used on the calendar.

The latest Animal Crossing game had dropped three weeks ago and while a lot of people were probably getting it for Christmas, all three of them had preordered it so they could play all break.  
As Rosetta had suspected, Valerie was on her switch playing, laying across her bed with the screen held above her. Rosetta turned hers on and laid down on her stomach, going onto her Animal Crossing game.

“So how music school?” Valerie asked, eyes focused on the red console before her, not minding that Rosetta had come to join her. They saw each other the least out of all their family members so Rosetta just hanging around her stopped bothering Valerie as much as it did when they were younger.

She had remembered Valerie having been so upset that Rosetta was going to a different high school, a boarding one of sorts no less, because she had been looking forward to bullying her underclassman sister while she was an upperclassman. Eva however was more then happy about it because that meant that she wasn’t going to get bullied by Rosetta when Rosetta was a senior and Eva was a freshman.

The want to spend more time with each other only increased when last year, Rosetta announced that her plan after high school was to move out to LA with her friends. Ellie and Kiki were both attending the same historically women’s college and, unbeknownst to her parents, Rosetta had her first concert set up and ready in August. She also had enough money from her EP saved away to afford an apartment there. Most of her friends had money saved up for the move out, all of them knowing it was easier to find work in their craft in the city but none of them wanting to stay in Gatlon.

“It’s pretty good. I got a 100 on my math test but I just had Mom and Dad sign a paper that makes sure they know I fell off the roof-”

“You fell off the roof!” Valerie sat up, extremely alarmed.

“I’m fine. It was a freak accident and Beck and Ellie used their powers to catch me. No harm no foul but Nurse Carno wasn’t pleased.”

Valerie snorted and flicked Rosetta’s head with a random vine she summoned. “You’re always full of freak accidents.”

“Yeah,” Rosetta laughed, wincing a little, remembering all the instances in middle school that neither of her sisters had bothered defending her for.

“What about the Showcase. I know I couldn’t make it but how did that go? Oh and what about the Snowball dance. I think I remember something about that.”

“The Showcase and the Snowball dance were both nice. I have pictures and videos if you want.”

“That’s good to hear. I saw the videos and photos your friends posted on Snapchat so you can show me the footage later. Right now I want for you to trade with me so I can have turnips.”

“I’ll give you turnips if you give me black flowers,” Rosetta said. “Three turnips equals one flower. That’s the lowest I’ll settle for. It’s that or no turnips.”

Valerie huffed. “Fine. You drive a hard bargain but fine. I need those turnips for rewards.”

“And I need those black flowers for rewards. I mean my plant game is strong but I made a bet with Tom Nook and I need a bunch of black flowers around my palace to win it.”

“You can make bets with Tom Nook?” Valerie asked as she clicked some things. A little message went off on Rosetta’s screen telling her that she received some flowers from Valerie.

“Yeah. Did you not know that?" Rosetta asked, sending turnips to Valerie.

"No.”  
“It was a new feature that they advertised a lot.”

Part of the latest Animal Crossing game was that if you wanted, you could bet with Tom Nooks to grow your estate, pay off your debt faster, or to just win some rare items. In past games you were growing a campsite or an island. In this one you’re someone who’s put in charge of an estate with a little castle and the goal is to decorate the estate as well as fill up the empty rooms with villagers. There were also rooms that Tom Nook gave out to shop owners like the Able Sisters and of course where Nook and Isabelle ran things.

“What do you win from the bet?” Valerie asked.

“I’ll be allowed to evict Rodney and let Molly move in instead,” Rosetta exclaimed.

That was also part of it. You could convince one of your starter villagers to move out, but it hadn’t worked yet for Rosetta so she had decided to make a bet with Tom Nook to kick Rodney out since that was something new you could do. Once Rodney was out she could then ask Molly to take his room.

She also had a small attachment to Molly as in every Animal Crossing game Rosetta had, she had recruited Molly into her world.

“Ewww. You got Rodney,” Valerie said.

“Yeah I know. He keeps starting shit with the other villagers and I need him out. I had asked Eva earlier for black flowers but she was being rude and wouldn’t give me any because she said that she wanted Rodney to stay and cause problems. I have enough drama with the other villagers.”

“What villagers do you have?”

“I have Bob, Cherry, Stitches, Rosie, Whitney, Marina, Ankha, Bill, and Emerald. I also of course have Rodney but soon he will be replaced by Molly.”

“Nice. I have Sprocket, Goldie, Jay, Roald, Eunice, Wendy, Zoe, Drift, Fauna, and ironically I also have Cherry,” Valerie told her. “Can I come to your estate? I want to see what you’ve done since I last saw it.”

“Yeah just don’t mess anything up and I want to see yours afterwards.”

Rosetta then invited Valerie over to her world, Rose Blossom Estate. Valerie came in at the little train station, her little character having its dark hair in a pineapple puff with jeans and a band t-shirt she had designed on. Her character clapped as she was shown around.

“I like what you’ve done with the place. I see you unlocked terraforming,” Valerie noted, seeing the waterfall oasis Rosetta had made outside by the flower garden.

“Thank you. Now let me see you place. I want to see if I can start shit with your Cherry.”

“No! Don’t be mean to Cherry! She can be a bit of a bitch but I like her!” Valerie complained as they traveled to her estate. She had named it Pothos Estate after her favorite type of house plant, one she often grew when bored as well. There were actually several of them in her bedroom as they spoke.

Her castle had house plants everywhere and she had up leaf wallpaper with bamboo floors and a green carpet runner. While each villager and shop had their own unique door, Valerie’s was white with a little rose on it.

Her bedroom had white walls and dark floors with plants sprawling all over the place. Her bed had a rose comforter on it and most of her furniture matches with white wood and gold accents. She kept it very bougie compared to the absolute craziness that was Rosetta’s place.

Outside there was lots of biodiversity with a sprawling vegetable garden and a river cutting through, a little bridge arching over it. There was a large orchard and even a greenhouse full of flowers. There were picnic spots and benches and all sorts of things to do with a little café and an outdoor movie place.

“Oh very nice. It’s very plant based,” Rosetta commented.

“What were we really expecting from me,” Valerie snorted.

“Fair point. Thank you for the black flowers. You have brought me one step closer to kicking Rodney’s ugly little ass to the curb,” she said as her character left.

They played for a while until they got called up for dinner, both of their switches nearly out of battery anyways.

Both of them got up and instantly Valerie glared at her.

“Shrink. Stop being taller,” she said. She was far from happy that Rosetta had passed her up in height. Valerie was 5'7 and Eva was 5'4 but not done growing. Rosetta on the other hand was 5'10 and often wore six inch platforms so she could be taller then all her family members including her grandpa Hugh. Or at least as tall as him. Of course she also wore them because in the ninth grade when she was only 5'7, she was told by Jack Vales that she was too tall to be wearing heels at the Snowball Dance that year so in retaliation she bought platform boots and hadn’t stopped wearing them since.

Rosetta being 5'10 did not make Nova very happy however as she was supposed to be 5'2 like her mom and Nova was upset that all her daughters were now taller then her. Adrian thought it was funny until Rosetta started wearing platforms and he realized that he didn’t like his kids being taller then him either. Both of them said that it made them realize that Rosetta was legitimately almost an adult and would be leaving home soon to move out to LA and neither of them were excited for that either.

However Rosetta was very proud of herself for getting so tall. She was lucky to be born without missing anything like limbs or organs and wasn’t supposed to get tall at all because she was born so early. Her being so big was an accomplishment and one she fully intended to flaunt.

The doctors had been wrong and that meant everyone needed to stop worrying about her and her breathing abilities because it meant that those might not be as big of a problem as anticipated.  
“Maybe you should just grow like all those little plants you make,” Rosetta laughed as they went upstairs to go eat.

Upstairs, Eva and their parents were already at the table, plates by the food in the kitchen for them to help themselves.

Dinner was all small talk, everyone talking about their day. Eva was telling Valerie and their parents about the team party that she had just gotten back from. Then Valerie filled them in on her midterms and told them about her plans for her and a few of her friends to get an apartment together by the end of the year.

Her mood dipped. It just reminded her that it would be 10 days of shutting herself in. It just reminded her that they had missed out on things like the Showcase that were important to her and even if they came to that, there was still so much she felt she couldn’t tell them.

“What about you Rosetta?” Valerie asked. “I mean you had the Showcase and the Snowball and you fell off the roof.”

“You fell off the roof?” Eva asked.

“Yes and I’m not elaborating anymore. Valerie, anything else you were going to say?”

“No that’s all I know.”

“Well that’s all that happened. Falling off the roof was weird. Snowball was fun. Showcase was fine,” Rosetta said, not really wanting to tell them anything about the Showcase. If they couldn’t come then she wasn’t going to tell them.

Even if she didn’t shut herself in, it’s not like she’d ever hold much of a conversation with them. Occasionally, like that day, she’d have actual conversations with one of her sisters but they weren’t often. Aside from that, she never really talked much around her family, her friends being the only people that could actually get her to talk.

Rosetta had tried to contribute but was always shut down one way or another, intentionally or not. Her mind just moved so fast that she would connect in things that everyone else thought was random and just nonsense. They would look at her confused and then just move on.

Her parents tried to understand. Nova was the same way and did her best to understand but Rosetta usually connected it to music related things that she had no idea about. Her dad also tried to understand and usually found it endearing but her sisters didn’t exactly get it and just pushed it away. Adults were only nice about it to be polite. Her sisters didn’t have to be polite with her.  
Rosetta just didn’t fit in with her family. She never would.

She didn’t have powers. She wasn’t a genius like her sisters. She had completely different interests and she dressed very differently. She acted differently too.

Rosetta didn’t even look like her family. Beside her parents you could tell that she was their kid but with her whole family, she was just so different from her sisters that it didn’t look like she belonged.

Rosetta had her mom’s jawline and lip shape but had her dad’s thick curls and dark brown eyes and nose. Her sisters were the inverse with more of their dad’s jaw and lip shape and their mom’s nose. While they all had freckles like their mom, Rosetta’s were much more prominent and plentiful. They shared a few features such as eyes, cheekbones, skin and hair, but those were all common things people shared and even their brows being different though that was the one thing Rosetta shared with just Valerie.

Valerie gave her a weird look and Rosetta ignored it, taking her plate to the dishwasher and putting it in. She left and went upstairs.

“Setta’s being weird again,” Eva said as she went upstairs.

“I can hear you Eva!” Rosetta called down.

“Hey! Setta you’re being weird again!” Eva yelled up.

“At least you’re not saying it like a coward!” She yelled back.

She got ready for bed, plugged in her switch, and then got in her bed, curling up in her blankets. It was only a half past 6 but she was ready to sleep.  
There was a knock on her door.

“Yeah?” Rosetta asked, looking up at the door from her spot on her bed.

“Are you alright?” her mom asked, opening up the door a little to check on her.

“I’m fine. I got little sleep last night,” Rosetta told her. It wasn’t a lie. She truly was exhausted, having stayed up all night and then gotten up early to get everything in her room in check and then to the train.

“Okay well we were concerned that you were upset about something,” Nova said, then going to tuck Rosetta in and press a kiss to her head. “Goodnight sweetie.”

“Night,” she yawned as the door shut and she went to sleep.


	16. Queer Idiots Go To the Aquarium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosetta and her friends go check out all the animals at the aquarium after a quick skateboarding session. Also I wrote this before the pandemic and while I'm posting this now I miss the aquarium so much I just want to see all the pretty fish for I am a queer idiot.

The next day Rosetta was feeling much better. She really did just need to sleep though she was still upset about them missing the Showcase.

After breakfast she quickly uploaded another video on her YouTube, the behind the scenes on one of her music videos, and then gathered her things in her backpack, making it endless so it would fit all the Christmas gifts she had gotten for her friends. Kiki wasn’t the only one who didn’t celebrate as she was Muslim but she still loved the festivities. Meg and Beck also only somewhat celebrated as Meg’s mom was Christian but her father was Hindu while Beck’s mom was Jewish and his dad was Christian so they just mixed the practices to their liking. Even then, Rosetta and her family weren’t exactly religious.

Regardless of religious beliefs, everyone got each other small gifts and then they played games and ate junk food all night. It wasn’t really about the religion. It was more about just having an excuse to spoil each other and have fun and they could all get behind that.

The day was going to be action packed. First she was meeting up with Kiki in the center of the city to go practice skateboarding in an abandoned car garage they had spotted. After that they would go to the aquarium with the rest of their friends and then to Lana’s place for the little Christmas party and they’d all be sleeping over. That was just another reason to make her bag endless, so she could fit all her stuff for the night in it.

Rosetta took the train and met up with Kiki at her spot.

“You ready?” Rosetta asked, pulling her phone and skateboard out of her backpack.

“Ready as always,” Kiki said, taking out her own skateboard.

Once they were out of the station they threw down their boards and made their way to the old warehouse.

It was covered in graffiti, some of the concrete walls completely knocked out and crumbling, letting the small amount of daylight that they got in winter to stream through. They went upstairs to the top floor so they could skate all through the spiral downwards.

In the concrete floors there were cracks and gaps, places where there was no floor at all. Trash and garbage and small objects were everywhere as plants like ivy crept around.  
“Do you think anyone can see us up here?” Kiki asked as they skated around, catching speed fast.

“Probably not. If so it doesn’t matter,” Rosetta reminded as she jumped over a gap.

“Oh right!” Kiki said, remembering Rosetta’s powers.

The two of them ran off, going to the top floor. As they ran up, Rosetta noted that there was an impressive amount of pigeons, even more then all the graffiti. It was a small amount of pigeons for a major city but it was like a whole flock had turned the building into its home, each bird having its own rafter to live in.

“Do you think- do you think I can catch one?” Rosetta asked, seeing how she could reach up and touch the rafters. As weird as it was, the idea of catching a pigeon with her bare hands was thrilling.

“You better not.”

“No I’m going to,” Rosetta said, setting her things down.

“You’re lucky I can get you some hand sanitizer,” Kiki sighed. She was used to Rosetta’s antics and while she always warned Rosetta not to do things, let her do them anyways, usually laughing at her when they were over or getting the first aid kit ready.

If it had been Meg with Rosetta, Meg would have yelled at her and scared off the pigeons before Rosetta could even make any attempts.

She crept up to a nearby rafter slowly, crouching down before rocketing up and reaching out. She grabbed onto it and landed with the squirming bird tightly in her clasp. It squwaked angrily.  
“Holy shit I didn’t think that would actually work.”

“Oh my stars. You really caught a pigeon,” Kiki said, both in awe and disappointed.

It pecked at Rosetta unhappily and she released it after a few moments before she let Kiki pour hand sanitizer on her palms. Having a bird in your hands wasn’t the best feeling in the world so Rosetta was grateful for it.

She then grabbed her things and they skated down a level in case an angry birds came back to them for revenge.

As they ran around, skating and laughing and recording everything, Rosetta noticed how the building shook a little. Obviously she wasn’t going to let them crash and get crushed in the rubble, but she did want to test the instability out a little more.

She crouched and started bouncing around and shaking her body.

“Etta!” Kiki scolded but she was laughing. She knew Rosetta really wasn’t going to let them fall. “Oh my stars are you twerking to shake the building?”

Rosetta snorted and stood up. “It’s fun,” she said as the building shook some more. “So thick I’m going to break a building.”

She then crouched down again and started twerking, resulting in the building shaking once more. The metal around creaked and groaned and Kiki wasn’t happy about it.

“Stop! You’re going to get us killed!” She said, now being more serious as the building was sounding like it was about to topple over in a second.

“No I’m going to get myself killed but I’m going to die having fun, twerking in a collapsing building.”

“Whatever god you pray to is looking down on you with disappointment,” Kiki told her.

“Jokes on you I’m already a disappointment and God fears me!” Rosetta yelled. It echoed and the building shook again. “Okay we really should get out of here If not for this then for the wrath of the pigeons.”

Kiki cut the camera and found an exit. They climbed down the fire escape and jumped the fence, laughing. They went to a local indoor skatepark instead and spent time there for a few hours until Kiki’s reminder alarm went off, alerting them to start heading to the Gatlon Aquarium to meet up with the rest of their friends.

It was a good skating session, both of them attempting new tricks with varying degrees of success. They were tired and a little sore but still happy with the results that they had gathered.  
Their friends arrived at the doors of the aquarium a few minutes after they did and then they got tickets.

“Don’t let Beck and Rosetta by the stingray tank alone,” Ellie told them all once they were inside.

“Why?” Meg asked. “I mean I don’t doubt it but what’s the story behind that?”

“We went to the aquarium when we were in the second grade and Beck went in the tank and nearly got our school banned from going there for field trips and I followed him in,” Rosetta explained.  
“I didn’t even get to pet the stingray,” Beck grumbled.

She remembered the day vividly. The entire grade was there and she was with her class around the stingray pool. Beck was chasing around one of the stingrays and she was following him along with Ellie, the three of them being grouped together. Beck eventually got fed up and just jumped in the pool and ran through the water chasing it, careful as to not disturb the aquatic life that was laying in the sand however. Rosetta ran in after him with her camera as she had promised she would get him a picture of him petting the stingray and she wasn’t going to let Beck down.

One of the chaperones and the teacher grabbed them out as security came. They left shortly after that and Rosetta and Beck’s parents received a long phone call home after that.

Rosetta actually had pictures of Beck running through the stingray pool. She had gotten a little disposable camera for her birthday and decided to save it for the field trip since she knew they were going to the aquarium at the end of the year and she wanted pictures of all the sharks and fish.

Instead she got pictures of Beck and her chasing a stingray through a pool and all the utter chaos that they had caused and frankly that was way better.

“Is it bad that I’m not surprised?” Kiki asked.

“Probably,” Beck said, shrugging. “Now lets go see those stingrays!”

“Hell yeah!” Lana and Rosetta cheered, Beck taking their hands as they began to run off to go find them.

“No!” Meg said, grabbing them by their shirts and pulling them back. “You’re 17 not 5.”

All three of them rolled their eyes and Rosetta could see the disappointment in Meg’s eyes though Kiki and Ellie found it amusing.

“Rosetta and Ellie are the only ones of us who are still 17,” Lana reminded.

“Doesn’t matter. We’re going to walk like normal people,” Meg said.

“But the stingrays!” Beck whined.

“Walk dipshit,” Meg hissed. “You can go to the stingrays if you earn it.”

He huffed but agreed. Meg then let them go wander around, keeping a close eye on them and Ellie held Rosetta’s hand “just in case”. It probably wasn’t to keep her from running off to go look at the tiger sharks but more of just for the sake of holding hands.

The blue light of the tanks illuminated their skin as bright colored fish darted around in the tanks. The blue carpeting had aquatic animals on it and there were children and adults and teenagers alike wandering around.

There was more then just fish and sharks with the stingray pool, frogs, penguins, crabs, starfish, and others.

Of course, they all went to the sharks first, Lana giving them many facts about hammerhead sharks as they were her favorite animal.

“They’re usually found 250 meters deep in water and stay in packs of 15 to 20 which is unusual for sharks. They usually live in warmer areas,” Lana explained, eyes lighting up as she watched them swim by.

“What is it with all the cool animals living in the warm places. Why the fuck did we up here in the north have to get stuck with deer and geese. They’re so boring,” Rosetta said disappointed.

“Geese aren’t boring. They have teeth,” Meg said.

“That just makes them terrifying,” Ellie said.

“Sharks are also terrifying,” Kiki said. She wasn’t a fan of them.

“They’re babies and innocent creatures and rarely kill humans. Also look how stupid the hammerhead sharks look,” Lana laughed.

It was true. They were cute in Rosetta’s opinion but the way their heads were shaped made it hard not to laugh at them. They were so ugly and stupid looking that they were adorable.

“You know what other shark looks stupid?” Beck asked. “Tiger sharks. They don’t even look like tigers. What was the point of that name?”

“I think it’s because of the stripes,” Meg pointed out, showing him the picture on the little plaque.

“Okay but they don’t look like tiger stripes. It’s dumb.”

“Do I look like I named them?”

“The full name is probably worse. I bet you it’s in Latin too,” Ellie said.

“Agreed,” they all said in unison.

They then moved past the sharks and went to look at other animals. Specifically, Kiki’s favorite animal the poison dart frog. When it came to facts, no one could beat Kiki on the amount she gave about the poison dart frogs in one of the tanks. Not even Lana.

“Poison dart frogs are usually found in the rainforest areas of Central and South America but they can also be found in Hawaii. Usually, the brighter they are the more poisonous they are,” Kiki explained, pointing at the little frogs in the glass box.

“What else do you know about them?” Ellie asked.

“That they’re cute,” Kiki said happily. “Oh also they can live up to 10 years in captivity and have great eyesight,” she tacked on.

Ellie pointed to one of the frogs. It was red on it’s top half with it’s behind legs being black, speckling some of the red. “What’s this one called?”

“Strawberry Poison Dart Frog.”

“And this one?” Lana asked, pointing to a predominantly bright orange frog.

“It’s called an Oophaga. That’s its scientific name and it has no other mainstream name.”

“Okay I thought tiger sharks had a stupid name but this one takes the cake,” Beck laughed.

Their group then moved on. They wandered around, taking in all the fish and amphibians and reptiles around. The last spot they went to was the stingray pool where everyone was keeping a very close eye on Beck.

He knelt at the pool and gently put his hand out towards the stingray. It let him pet him and Rosetta could have sworn that he was crying.

“I finally get to pet the stingray,” he said happily, a tear sliding down his cheek. Rosetta didn’t even think he was faking it. Beck’s reaction was something completely in character for him.

Lana pulled out her camera and snapped a picture. She had been taking photos all day but this one was going in the books, especially when they had a comparison photo for it.

Rosetta was very much enjoying their group’s little field trip. Especially at this moment. She liked looking at all the animals but she also liked seeing the expressions of her friends and girlfriend at all the animals.

In addition to looking at all the animals, they also went to the gift shop before they left where Lana got a stuffed hammerhead shark to add to her collection and all of them got matching t-shirts with the aquarium name and a bunch of the animals on it, each of them selecting a different color. There was a sale going on so they all paid way less for the shirts when they got all six of them. That and Lana came often enough that she had a season pass which gave her a discount.

It was dark when they left to go to Lana’s apartment but she lived close by and they were all prodigies moving in a pack so Rosetta wasn’t as scared as she would have been alone.

They went up to the 15th floor and down the hall from the elevator. Rosetta had been over many times before, recognizing it by the little door mat that had their last name, Zhou, on it.

They all wiped their feet and went in, hanging up their coats and taking off their shoes, setting them on the rack.

“Hey kiddos!” Lana’s dad, Sean, said as he saw them come in.

“Hi Sean!” They all said, all of them on a first name basis with him which was an accomplishment Rosetta was very proud of.

“Hey Dad!” Lana said brightly.

The apartment was familiar to Rosetta with pale and cool walls and furniture, pictures and other items hung up on the walls. The view of the city through the glass window before the little balcony, which held two deck chairs and some plants, was stunning, showing a billion twinkling lights in the dark.

They went to Lana’s room, setting their things down as the party began.


	17. Power Point Presentation Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosetta and her friends have a sleepover at Lana's and celebrate winter break with a gift exchange and passionate power points. Also Renegades Council Roast Session Part 2.

Lana’s room looked just how Rosetta remembered it, not much of it changing. It had baby blue walls with photos and posters everywhere. There was a trans pride flag and then a lesbian pride hung above her bed and on another wall there were some road signs she had stolen.

Her comforter was covered in sharks and there were several shark plushies on her bed. She, of course, had a framed Jaws poster above her desk and there were glow in the dark stars on her ceiling. There was a bunch of camera equipment cluttered around and there were also a few bean bags around the room.

The only thing that had changed was one of the walls was blank, a mini projector on the dresser across from it. Rosetta figured it was for their power-point presentations they were going to give each other.

“Okay so we’re ordering pizza and I already know your orders so don’t worry,” Lana said, coming into the room. “Why don’t we exchange gifts first and then once food is here we can give our power-points.”

“Sounds good to me,” Rosetta agreed, opening up her bag and pulling out all the presents. The rest of her friends besides Kiki had stopped by Lana’s earlier to drop off their things.

Rosetta had put together a bunch of little gift bags for each of them. They all agreed since everyone was getting a gift, just giving each other little things.

Rosetta had gotten their things in advance. She had gotten Beck the chain necklaces of hers he liked so much which, ironically she bought before he even told her he liked them. She just got him one so they could match. She also got Beck fuzzy socks and a new pack of guitar picks.

From Rosetta, Lana received a little disposable camera, since she was constantly on the hunt for more of them, as well as a pack of shark stickers. Kiki got the coffee k-cups she loved as well as a nail polish she liked. Meg had gotten a few new items for her ballet shoe kit and then for Ellie, Rosetta had gotten her pink ribbon, since she was low on it, and a box of her favorite candy.

Rosetta had gotten a few small miscellaneous items. She got a new roll of grip paper for her skateboard, a small poster, a new eyeliner pen, a pack of Sour Patch Kids, some stickers, and then some guitar polish. It was a decent loot and by the time they were done exchanging gifts, the food had come.

The six of them then gathered back in Lana’s room on the beanbag chairs and on the bed with their pizza as Lana hooked her laptop up with the projector and turned it on.

“Beck you’re up first,” Lana said, handing the laptop to him so he could pull his up.

They had all shared their presentations with Lana.

Beck’s was called “Why West Virginia is the Worst!” and Rosetta was happy to hear his explanation. He transitioned to his next slide.

“Okay so to start, we already have a Virginia. We didn’t need another one and by default West is the worse cardinal direction which makes West Virginia even worse,” Beck explained. He clicked a button on his laptop and the slides moved. “Next we’re going to be discussing it’s shape. Virginia may suck but at least it’s close to a triangle. West Virginia is just…. it’s just…. it makes me upset alright. It’s so jagged and absurd of a shape. I hate it. Additionally, the little point at the top is the worst part. It looks like a penis and that means West Virginia has it’s dick out and that makes it a sex offender so that makes it bad.”

All of them burst out laughing at that. Rosetta held her stomach wheezing though Beck had a straight face and was very serious about his presentation.

“Do you see any other states that have their dicks out?” Beck asked. “NO! Why can’t it put it’s penis away like a normal fucking state and be square shaped like Colorado!” He went to another slide. “Last but not least, you may be asking yourselves, ‘Beck, what about all the beautiful flora and fauna of West Virginia? Isn’t that worth something?’. Well the answer to that is no it fucking isn’t. If I wanted to see nature I’d go to a national park or just wander around Montana until I died.” He moved to the last slide. “All of these things make West Virginia the worst fucking state to ever exist. Thank you for your time.”

Beck exited out of his power-point while they all cracked up over it. He then passed the torch over to Rosetta for her to take over.

It took her a few minutes but she finally managed to get control of herself and pulled up her power-point. She had worked very hard on it, spending a while picking out photos and transitions and building a custom theme for it.

“For my presentation I will be giving you the pros and cons of my top five favorite beanie babies,” Rosetta said, clicking a key to go to the next slide. “At number 5 we have Peace the Bear.” A picture appeared on the screen. “As you can see he has a colorful tie-dye body with a bow and a peace sign on his chest. His pros are that he’s against war, he hates Nixon, and he’s chill. The cons are that he’s constantly on psychedelics and it makes it hard to hold a conversation with him.”

All of her friends began snickering.

“Is it going to be like this for all of them? Please tell me it will be like this for all of them!” Meg wheezed.

“Wait and you’ll find out.” She told her as she moved to the next slide. “After him we have Bushy the Lion. As you can see she’s simple and cute and very soft. Her pros are that she’s bright orange and has a fantastic mane. She’s also very kind and would go to the farmers market with me. The cons are that she’s actually an anti-vaxx mom. No I will not elaborate.” Rosetta moved on to the next one. “After Bushy we have Iggy the Iguana. She’s clearly very colorful and has some dope ass red eyes. Her pros are that she’s an artist and while she’s straight she’s a raging activist and ally of the LGBT+ community. Her cons are that she actually has a minor meth addiction and despite the support of loved ones she’s scared to get help because she thinks it’s the only thing that makes her creative and gives her good ideas for art pieces. That’s not the case and I love her dearly but she needs to recognize her self worth before I can grow closer as a friend to her unfortunately.” She hit the key for the fourth slide. “In second place we have Admiral Penguin. He’s very clearly is an adorable penguin. His pros are that he’s a penguin and he actually starred in both Happy Feet movies as Ramon. The cons are that he is guilty of war crimes.”

All of her friends were trying their best not to laugh like they had done their best not to laugh all through out Beck’s presentation but all of the presentations were absolute bullshit through and through.

Rosetta went to the second to last slide. “Last but not least, my favorite Beanie Baby is Punxsutawney Phil. His full name is Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, Weather Prophet Extraordinaire and I’m talking about the 2004 version. His pros are that he ended the Mexican American War and he’s also immortal. His cons are that he won’t shut up about it and he thinks liking Imagine Dragons is a personality trait. This concludes my presentation. Thank you.”

They gave her a round of applause as Lana took over, setting her paper plate covered in pizza grease aside.

“For my presentation I’m going to explain why War Crimes is the best way to die!” Lana said happily, a bright green slide appearing. “The first reason is that it makes for a good plot line. Are these people on opposite sides of a war who are in love with each other? Enemies to lovers? Or even back to enemies? Who knows? It could be anything.”

“As someone who had enemies to lovers parents I’m going to confirm that it is very dramatic and makes for a great plot,” Rosetta said.

“Exactly!” Lana exclaimed, clicking the next slide. “The second reason is the drama of war and war crimes itself. Obviously those are horrible and terrible things but goddammit breaking the Geneva Conventions is seductively dramatic.”

Meg snorted and all of them laughed at that. Rosetta would be honest, war crimes absolutely were dramatic and as long as you had no dog in the fight, it was fun to watch all the drama. At least for the most part.

“Now the third reason is because you know that whoever killed you with War Crimes, lover or enemy or whatever, is going to get punished due to the Geneva Conventions. Legal action may not be taken but they’ll have to live with the weight of them killing you and I’m 100 percent sure that someone would find out and make sure that your killer would be punished via their powers. Last but not least, if you die via War Crimes you might be able to rally up a bunch of ghosts and haunt the killer as a collective all while fucking shit up in some elaborate palace or mansion because fuck capitalists. And that’s the end of the presentation.”

“Okay I see your point. The revenge aspect is really what sells it. Also it would be fun to be turned into a historical, yet revoltingly inaccurate, film,” Ellie said.

“Well you might get a documentary,” Kiki pointed out.

“Oh that’s even better. I love documentaries!” Ellie said.

“That’s because you’re a nerd,” Beck said, reaching over and flicking her. She laughed and shoved him away before reclining against Rosetta, her head on her lap.

Meg then went up and took the stage of the small room, bringing up her presentation.

“Today I will be explaining why I think Walt Whitman is a pervert. My first point is that we all know he was fucking Oscar Wilde, don’t even dispute it, but he was about 35 years older then Oscar. He was 35 when Oscar Wilde was born and yeah maybe Walt Whitman was his sugar daddy but like…. that shit is just creepy on the older person’s part. Side note Oscar Wilde was the power bottom because Wilde was most likely the bottom but Whitman is too big of a coward to be in control and you can quote me on that.”

Rosetta began laughing. Meg was very passionate about this topic. After they were forced to read one of Whitman’s very extensive poems, Song of Myself, she had come to the conclusion that he was a pervert and wrote her whole essay on why he was a bad writer because of that. Meg obviously couldn’t outright say that as her thesis so instead she made the point that Whitman’s writing shouldn’t be held on such a high pedestal due to a glorification of death and other things to a disturbing and nonsensical degree.

“Now my next point,” Meg said, “Is that I’m pretty sure he had a poem about licking other people which is creepy as shit but I was too scared about what I would fine to fact check that. My third point is the entirety of Song of Myself. As you know I wrote an essay on how he glorified death, nature, and human error. It’s over 100 pages of him ranting about how he wants to decompose and be naked outside. He honest to stars just wants to dick down the earth itself and that disgusts me. It also makes me believe that, after reading about how much he glorified nature and what it can do, that he would in fact be an anti-vaxx mom that only uses essential oils and that doesn’t exactly factor into why I think he’s a pervert it just factors into why I fucking hate this man so much. That’s it. Fuck Whitman. He’s a pervert.”

They all applauded politely. That was the most research anyone had put into their power-points as far as Rosetta knew. It may have been bullshit but there was evidence to her bullshit. Why there won’t quotes from the poems, due to the essay Meg had written, that Rosetta had revised for her, she was well aware that if she really wanted, she could have put quotes in and explained how they proved her point. However, none of them were really going to dispute her so if she had evidence or not it didn’t matter to them. It was all just for kicks.

It was then Kiki’s turn.

She cleared her throat and pulled out a little pointer finger out of her back before turning on her presentation.

“Welcome class to why I hate, Evander Wade.”

“Oh fuck yeah!” Rosetta cheered. She hated him too. Her grandparents always got a little upset by this but she didn’t care because due to him she almost didn’t exist and they should have been mad about that too.

“My number one reason, as you all know, is that he tried to kill Etta’s mom and while that’s obviously a grudge Etta will hold, I’m holding it against him because we wouldn’t have Etta without Nova and Blacklight nearly allowed us to not have Nova and therefore Etta.”

“I’m feel very loved at the moment,” Rosetta said warmly.

“It’s because we do love you. I love all of you and I wouldn’t want to not have any of you here no matter how much dumb stuff you all do. Regardless of that, my next reason is that I have no idea what the use of his powers even are. Like you’re just a glowstick how does that help you stop crime? Buddy you’re going to send someone with epilepsy into having a seizure. How’s that for helping people? Another reason why he sucks is that he looks like a leprechaun and as well all know those things suck.”

“Yeah leprechauns are creepy,” Meg said, shivering a little. They all nodded in agreement.

“My next reason,” Kiki continued, “Is that he just has bad vibes. Like his vibes are off. I don’t think he deserved to die the way he did and I’m sorry for those who cared but his vibes are really off and I’m honestly okay with him not being in charge anymore. Last but not least what kind of name is Blacklight? I get it’s a type of light but you radiate neon light so that’s just a stupid name on his part and I’m holding it against him. Anyways that’s it. That’s the whole presentation.”

She exited out and took a seat as they all clapped for her. Ellie then peeled herself off Rosetta and took over.

“My presentation is on which cabinets of my kitchen all you guys are. Rosetta you’re the spice cabinet because you keep things interesting and really add flavor to the blandest situations and I appreciate you for that. Meg you’re the cabinet that holds all the pots and pans because it requires a lot of grace to get them out and you have a lot of grace because you’re a ballet dancer. Also you one time took pots and pans out and banged them together to wake me up.”

“Hell yeah I did,” Meg said, proud of herself.

“Beck you’re the cabinet where all the pasta is kept purely because you like pasta and I know you would like nothing more then to be pasta,” Ellie said.

He pretended to tear up. “Ellie you know me so well.”

“Moving on to Lana who is the cabinet where all the tupper-ware is kept because you’re as chaotic as that cabinet is and I love you for that. Lastly, Kiki you are the cabinet where all the bowls and plates and cups are kept because it’s always neat and orderly and when it comes to this friend group you make sure we’re always in check and you’re also a very neat and orderly person. Thank you. I love you all and I know it’s short but I put a lot of thought into it.”

She got her applause and sat back down to finish her food.

“This had to be one of our best ideas. I don’t know why Rosetta’s family and war crimes got factored into it a lot but this was still fun,” Beck said, throwing out his paper plate and leaning back on the floor.

“All of this is arbitrary but none of us are wrong,” Ellie said, resettling herself against Rosetta.

“Do you guys want to put on pajamas and play some card games or something?” Lana then suggested.

Rosetta could get behind that. She loved playing simple board games as usually the commentary and competitiveness of her friends made it far more interesting and entertaining. Also putting on pajamas sounded nice to her.

“Sure,” they all agreed, collecting their things and preparing for some more fun.


	18. Oh God We're Going To Get You Two Some Therapy I Swear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beck sneaks out to a party and gets himself into some trouble but Rosetta's got his back.

In the morning when Rosetta woke up, she was on the bed in the heap of her friends, all of them having fallen asleep in a cuddle pile.

Lana was already awake and Beck was nowhere to be seen. It was nearly noon and Rosetta figured that he must have been visiting his dad for lunch or something like that. They only saw him on holidays and birthdays and since Christmas was in a few days, Beck and his siblings must have gone to go visit him. If not that, then she had no idea why he would have left without having told them, or Rosetta herself, where he was going.

But Beck didn’t like talking about his dad all that much as they had a somewhat strained relationship, Beck loving his father but still having their differences. Of course, Beck was a Momma’s boy and his dad cheating on his mom, leading to the divorce, didn’t exactly make him like his dad. If it weren’t for that then he would have gotten them up to say goodbye as well or he would have left for back home with Ellie and Rosetta.

The rest of her friends woke up shortly after Rosetta, all of them crowding in the little dining space to eat a breakfast of leftover pizza. Rosetta took her medicine with her water and they were all too tired to really talk much with each other.

Eventually, Ellie and Rosetta left as well, Rosetta dropping off Ellie and then going to her own house. She put her things away and kept mostly to herself until she realized that winter break was perfect timing for a tattoo. It would be a nice shock for people and people most likely wouldn’t question how it would be mostly healed on its own.

It was when it started to get dark that she finally worked up the courage to go ask her dad for the tattoo kit, having spent the day finding all the things she would need. She wasn’t sure if he even had it but she wasn’t going to summon one and then get asked a bunch of questions about how she got the tattoo when she could just ask her dad for his.

Now was her chance as she knew her mom and sisters were downstairs, all of them doing their own things. She wanted to surprise them and she figured if only her dad knew, then her chances of getting it were highest. If her sisters were there then she had a feeling that they’d get all excited and it’s not that Nova wouldn’t let her have a tattoo, she would just tell her to wait for the next day when it wasn’t getting dark and she wouldn’t be running around all excited about it.

“Hey Dad did you ever get rid of that tattoo kit?” Rosetta asked Adrian.

He raised a brow, looking at her suspiciously. “Yes. Why do you ask?”

“Can I have it?”

“You want to give yourself a tattoo don’t you?” He sighed.

Rosetta nodded eagerly, grinning wickedly. “You can’t even get mad. I’m nearly 18 and you gave yourself several at 16. You are in no position to bargain.”

“You make a fair point,” he sighed. “You sounded a lot like your mom when you said that, you know?”

Rosetta shrugged. “Well it’s almost as if I’m related to her.”

He laughed.

“Do you even have any ideas on what you’re going to do?”

“Yes! Give me a second,” Rosetta said happily and then raced back to her room. She was so excited. She was going to be getting a tattoo and the fact that her dad was helping her, even though Nova didn’t know, made up for everything to a degree in her mind.

She grabbed all the objects she had gathered for the process. She had her notebook with the idea she wanted, alcohol wipes, a little healing salve she summoned so she could heal it fast without suspicion, and a piece of fruit to practice on first, just so she got comfortable with using it.

Rosetta brought it to where her dad was, dropping it all on the bed. She picked up the notebook and showed him the concept drawing. It was the one she wanted on her hand with the raven and all the snakes on her fingers though for the tattoo she decided that instead of geometric shapes filling the excess space, she would use flowers and vines instead.

She was not only exhilarated to be getting a tattoo but to be able to talk about one of her interests and have it be wanted. Adrian asked to know about her drawings and it wasn’t something she had to shove down into conversations which ultimately made them awkward.

“Impressive,” her dad said, grinning. He then noticed everything else she had brought to the room. “You’ve been thinking about this for a while haven’t you?”

“Yup!” She said happily. “Now can you please tell me where to find the kit?”

Adrian left the room for a minute and returned with it. He put in one of the little ink pots and turned it on, demonstrating how to use it on the grapefruit. Rosetta took in the instructions eagerly, completely entranced by it all, and her dad then gave her the kit, letting her go to her room to do her own thing with it.

She cleaned off where she wanted it and using a thin marker, Rosetta drew the design on her right hand. She was left handed after all. Using her powers, she perfected it to how she wanted and then turned on the little machine. The initial prick hurt but the longer she worked on it, the less it bothered her as she knew what was coming. Her powers were a blessing because Rosetta didn’t always have the steadiest of hands and giving oneself a tattoo was a little intimidating.

She managed and when she was done, took the salve had summoned and put it on. The tattoo healed instantly, redness and swelling disappearing all together.

Rosetta ran to show her dad proudly.

“Look!” She said excitedly, holding up her hand for him to see. He took it gently, careful not to hurt her as the tattoo was fresh.

“Is it- is it healed already?” Adrian asked, confused. “I mean it looks fantastic but how?”

“I told Kiki about it beforehand and she found something to heal it instantly by using her powers,” she lied.

“Oh so this was a very thought out plan.”

“More or less.”

“I’m also going to assume that I’m never going to get that kit back and you’re purposely doing this now just to mess with family when you see them next.”

“Pretty much,” Rosetta said before she turned on her heel and left.

She was so proud of herself. That tattoo looked stunning.

On the dead center of her palm was the triangle, the raven facing forwards with its wings extended. It fit perfectly in the little triangle and it looked the exact same on the back of her hand. The snakes on her palm trailed up and twisted around all her fingers, heads stopping at her nail beds. On the front side of her hand, little chains spun off the triangle, surrounding her wrist and connecting to the snakes on her fingers. The rest of the space on her hand was filled with random flowers and vines. It was all in black ink and she loved it. The tattoo was somehow simple and yet intricate all at once.

Rosetta put the kit away in her closet and was about to call Beck to see if he was back from visiting his dad when she turned and saw him at her window.

She opened the window. “Look! I got my tattoo!”

“It looks great,” he sniffled, giving her a small smile. He looked upset and shocked and a bunch of other things.

Beck came in, shutting the window before he collapsed on Rosetta.

“BeLo? What’s the matter?” She asked, holding him tightly in a hug.

“So I have a half-sister,” he cried. “Turns out not only had my dad been cheating all those years but he had another kid that’s the same age as my siblings.”

“Obviously that’s messed up but what’s so bad about another sibling? You love your brother and sisters?” Rosetta asked.

Beck was a quintuplet, him and all four of his siblings all sharing a birthday. She knew that, despite his problems with his dad, who had left when he was thirteen after Abby found out he was cheating, that he had been eager to have more siblings if one of his parents remarried but neither ever did. Of course the shock of his dad never telling him that he had another sister all along must have been hard. But even then, she couldn’t see why he was this upset about having a sister and not upset about the fact that it was hidden from him.

“It’s not that RJ,” Beck sniffled, pulling away and wiping his face. “He hid it from us our whole lives and decided to wait until we were all adults to tell us. He was weird about custody and never let us come visit on holidays because of it. It’s that she wants to be a musician too. She’s not part of GATA and she’s really good but…. our dad is supportive of her but he loathes me for wanting to pursue music at the same time. He’s given her everything and let the rest of us be without us while he took away years we could have had with each other as siblings.”

He started crying again and LRosetta felt terrible. It was one thing to get tough love or to have an unsupportive parent. It was another thing for your parents to be unsupportive of you just because they could. And to give his half-sister everything while not letting Beck and his siblings have those same things was cruel. He may have missed out on most of Beck’s half-sister’s life because he was taking care of Beck and his siblings, but that didn’t mean he should have separated them from each other or ever denied love and time with his other kids.

She pulled him into a tighter hug and pressed a kiss to his head, both of them just standing there in her room.

“Do you want to go to sleep?” Rosetta asked. “We stayed up late last night and then you got up early and I bet that’s making you feel worse.”

“Yes please,” he croaked and both of them just crumpled on her bed. Beck kicked off his shoes and curled up in her blankets. She held him tightly and Pudge came and joined the pile, drifting off easily.

When Rosetta woke however, Beck was gone. It was very late at night and there was a note from him on her nightstand.

“Went to a friend’s party to take mind off it. I’m at 71 Railgate Road. Come get me if I don’t put a note on your window by 1 am,” it read.

She cursed under her breath. She had rubbed off on Beck way too much and now both of them had the same coping mechanisms of getting wasted at parties. Not even getting wasted half the time. They would just go to a party to just feel something other then pain if possible. It was a distraction if anything.

Rosetta sent him a text and one of his sisters texts as she knew that Kayla often stayed up late. She knew this mainly because she had briefly dated Kayla but things hadn’t worked out but it was so short of a fling that they were still able to be friends.

Kayla said he wasn’t home and Beck wasn’t responding to her texts. She grabbed a jacket and a hat from her closet and went to go find him, getting to the house easily. It was in the neighborhood and once she saw the lights she knew where to go.

Rosetta entered, not feeling out of place. She had been to a party here before, knowing the hostess was a girl named Mia Paxs. They had been friends in sixth grade and she was one of the few friends that Rosetta had ever had in middle school, still keeping in touch with her though very little.

She searched around the bottom floor and began to feel uncomfortable due to all the leering boys in the house looking at her like she was some sort of prize or toy to be won. So she went upstairs, calling out for Beck so they could just leave before some boy tried to pull something.

Rosetta found him upstairs in a room, playing a drinking game. It didn’t take a genius to know that he was drunk.

They were about to hand him another one but she took it away and set it down, kneeling at Beck’s side.

“BeLo how many cups have you had?”

“I know how many cups I’ve had,” Beck insisted.

“And how many is that?” Rosetta asked.

“A lot.”  
She shook her head laughing. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

She helped Beck get onto his feet, putting her arm under his to hoist him up. Immediately, he pushed himself off her and threw up in a nearby trash can. Rosetta sighed and used her powers to make a towel appear before wiping off his face.

“Thanks RJ,” Beck mumbled.

“No problem,” Rosetta said, giving him her shoulder to lean on as they started to leave.

Truthfully, she didn’t mind. Beck had done the same for her before, finding her having drunk a bit too much at a party and then taking her back to his house where she’d spend the night. Her parents had grown used to her just leaving for Beck’s without asking or Beck just appearing at their place. They had been doing it for ages so they knew she’d be in less trouble if she crashed there then if her parents knew she had snuck out to a party and gotten wasted.

Beck’s mom, Abby, was way more lenient and was fine with it as long as he told her and he was home by the next day.

Of course Rosetta had also kept an eye on Beck through worse situations and this was nothing compared to some of them. One time when they were leaving a party, while Rosetta went to grab her coat, someone offered Beck a mint and he took it but it ended up being LSD and Rosetta spent the whole night keeping an eye on him until she finally convinced him to go home. She had to buy him a gallon of milk to calm him down and the second she got it for him, he immediately went to the raccoons outside the store and tried to get them to drink the milk. Rosetta then had to fend off raccoons with a garbage can lid because they were not happy when Beck dumped milk on them to make them drink it.

It was the best and worst night of Rosetta’s night by far.

Rosetta had to pull a lot of lies out of her ass to tell her parents why there were infected scratches all over her legs. She was lucky she had Pudge as it was much easier to explain that your cat tried to pick a fight with some raccoons in the middle of the night, resulting in you intervening to keep your cat safe, instead of explaining that your friend was high on LSD and angered a bunch of raccoons.

The two of them walked down the sidewalk, swaying and stumbling with Beck mumbling the lyrics of a song. All of a sudden he stopped and sat on the grass.

“If you’re going to throw up, do it away from me please,” Rosetta requested.

Beck shook his head and lazily pat a spot next to him. She sat down on the freezing grass, pulling her hat down further over her head as he fell back, arms beneath his head, looking up at the sky. She gave him a weird look, wondering what he was doing. Beck just reached out and pushed her back.

“Stargaze with me for a bit won’t you?” He asked, staring up.

“Christ you’re weird when you’re wasted,” she mumbled, rolling her eyes but it didn’t actually bother her at all. “I bet you the people who live in these houses are going to be really confused about why there’s two teenagers laying down on their lawn and why one of them is drunk.”

“Probably,” he snorted, eyes still focused on the stars. Beck then looked sad. “Do you think we’re ever going to leave Gatlon? I mean it’s a big city but it’s still a place where everyone stays because it’s a city. Don’t like that too much.”

She shrugged. “I know we’re going to get out of this place. I know it’s home and it’s home to a lot of people, but even a city this big can get old after a while and I just can’t think of anything better then leaving.”

All Rosetta had ever wanted was to leave Gatlon. Once she realized her family’s approval wasn’t going to come, she realized that leaving was the right choice. It would make her happy and she’d find her own path, far, far, far away from all the damage. The farther the better.

As she stared up at the stars, picking out constellations like her mom had taught her, all she could think of was about how far away they were and how badly she’d like to be up there with them. Out of reach but not out of sight. Important and beautiful on their own, but also part of something much bigger then themselves. They were unique but still belonged and that was something Rosetta wanted too. It was just something she couldn’t have.

“I think it would be more of a home if people cared more about the arts and less about powers. You ever get that feeling of just, no one caring and you’re stuck because you want people to care but you don’t want to give up what you have?” Beck asked.

“All the time. That’s my life in a sentence. I didn’t want to have to pick between music and my family being proud of me but I did anyways and even now, it’s like I’m still fighting the choice I made. I want to just play music and I don’t know…. I guess I feel selfish for wanting to disconnect myself from my family to get what I want because if I don’t, I’ll just feel guilty about not making them proud. Either way I’ll feel bad about it so I might as well just take the option that gives me some happiness.”

Rosetta never wanted to let anyone down but she did, even if it was far out of her control. At best, she was a problem. She was everyone’s problem. She didn’t fit in with them from the moment she was born, a non-prodigy. Even worse, a musician. Rosetta might have been able to get support if she had chosen a different career, like how Valerie didn’t want to be anything like a Renegade but wanted to be an engineer.

If she couldn’t meet expectations by not having powers, then she could have at least made it up by following in a career they thought was good. It made her feel bad that she couldn’t do anything right for them but then, yet again, Rosetta didn’t owe anyone anything. She only owed it to herself to be happy and even with her choice in music she still couldn’t do that.  
Beck had a similar situation. He was the middle child out of five with a single mom. Like Rosetta, his house was hectic and while his family loved him but his relationship with his dad had become very strained over his music career.

Beck’s dad had left them when he was in seventh grade, apparently having been cheating on Abby for years. It was devastating for Beck and Rosetta remembered going to spend the night just to make him feel better or to keep his mind off of it. Beck had been especially close with his father and looked up to him a lot and when the iron curtain fell, it fell hard. He and his siblings saw their dad only a few times a year and occasionally they got things like birthday cards or Christmas gifts sent to them in the mail, visiting him a few days after the event at a restaurant for lunch, but that was about it. Beck had drifted apart from his dad a lot and tried to maintain the closeness but things only got worse when he announced he was going to GATA for music as his father completely disapproved of it.

When his dad walked out on them, Beck felt like he hadn’t been enough for his father. The second he started to overcome it, his dad went out and told him that he didn’t approve of what he wanted to be in life and shot him down even more, saying he was only telling Beck this because he loved him. And now his dad was still telling him that while telling Beck’s sister the opposite. Beck was always trying to prove himself, that he had worth for his dad and Rosetta knew it made him feel selfish because he felt like he was turning against his mom by doing so. Yet at the same time, he couldn’t turn on his dad either.

It was a large weight to bare, just like Rosetta bared a large weight of her own, though they were very different.

Still, she understood.

It wasn’t that their parents didn’t love them. It wasn’t that they loved them any less then their siblings. It was just that the love Rosetta and Beck received was different because they were different. The problem was they weren’t considered a good difference, so the love wasn’t much of a good difference.

Being the disappointment of the family was often hard for others to comprehend because with Rosetta, she both loved and hated her family, both very passionately. It was a constant push and pull that tore her up inside because they were such conflicting emotions and yet they both existed at once as equals, both fighting to be dominant even though neither ever would be.  
Her parents didn’t hate her. They loved her. There was just a set of expectations intervening that made the message unclear. Rosetta knew that. But she also knew that you can love someone and still feel let down by them. Someone can love you and it still can be bad for you.

And most people couldn’t understand any of that.

But Beck did. He knew the exact push and pull of wanting to prove yourself to your family and then feeling bad about it both for yourself, because you’re making yourself feel you’re worthless when you aren’t, and then feeling bad for your family because in your mind you’re portraying them negatively. You wanted to love your family. You wanted to hate them. You felt like you were letting everyone down and still, you tried to prove to them that you were worth something, even when they both knew that no matter what, music would never mean anything.  
Beck turned to her and squeezed her hand. “It doesn’t make you selfish. It makes you whole because once we’re out of this place and on the other side of the country and living out our dreams, you’re going to be whole.”

“Then the same goes for you. You’re not selfish for pursuing music against your family’s wishes. We’re going to escape this hell hole of a city together and we’re going to be the best goddamned thing anyone has ever seen. I promise,” Rosetta reassured.

He laughed and there was a brief moment of silence before either one of them spoke up again.

“So what’s your half-sister’s name?”

“Dawn. She’s pretty cool. I just felt bad because I just- I just stormed out of the restaurant the second she brought up music and dad being supportive. She probably thinks I hate her.” He started crying again. “Shit my sister thinks I hate her!”

“Hey!” Rosetta said abruptly, moving to comfort him. “Dawn doesn’t think that. I’m sure you’re siblings explained and even if they didn’t once you do it’ll be alright. Don’t sweat it.”

“Right,” he said, calming down. “Right. You’re right. I’ll text her later tonight. It’s a good thing we immediately added her to the siblings group chat.”

She then playfully punched him in the arm. “I can’t believe my best friend is a sad sap when drunk.”

“Hey,” Beck defended, sitting up and laughing. “I’m not just a drunk sad sap. I’m a drunk sad sap that’s about to puke.”

“What!”

He turned away from her and threw his guts out on the lawn. She felt bad for whoever’s yard this was but she hoped he was finally done throwing up as she helped him up and used her powers to clean him up once again.

Beck and Rosetta looked at each other before laughing, holding onto each other for balance. The two of them trudged the rest of the way home, weaving through their neighborhood full of the row houses.

They made it to Beck’s place where Rosetta fumbled to open the door with her key. She got inside and shut the door, helping Beck to his room in the basement. Rosetta laid him down on the bed and in seconds he was asleep.

She yanked off his shoes and set them aside before finding a blanket for him. Rosetta tucked Beck in gently, making a glass of water and some Aspirin appear by his bed with a note telling him to take it in the morning. His brother didn’t seem to mind Rosetta’s presence in the room all that much, Lucas used to her being over late at night.

She then grabbed the trashcan and put it by his bed just in case he had to vomit again.

“See you tomorrow BeLo,” Rosetta whispered though she knew that he wasn’t awake to hear her.

Abby, Beck’s mom, was standing in the kitchen when she came up, smiling gently. She made Rosetta jump a little, but she calmed down quickly, knowing that Abby wasn’t mad or anything like that.

“Thank you for making sure he got home safely,” she said quietly, careful to not wake any of the five teenagers sleeping in the house. “They told me he was upset and stormed out and I was getting worried.”

“Of course. He’s my best friend. Why wouldn’t I?”

“You two were always good at taking care of each other.”

“Everyone needs a friend to care for them,” Rosetta said.

It was true. Beck took care of her and she took care of him. They were a team and always had been. No matter what, they had each other’s backs and neither of them were going to let them fall willingly and if they did stumble and trip, then they’d do it together.

Abby shook her head and laughed, her salt and pepper hair bouncing. “Goodnight Rosetta.”

“Night Abby,” Rosetta said, walking out the door and going back to her own house where she scaled the tree by the roofing piece outside of her sister’s room. She climbed on and then jumped up to the roof outside her own bedroom window before slipping into her room like normal.

Rosetta got ready for bed and went to sleep, Pudge curling up with her.


	19. BEYBLADES

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie, Rosetta, and Beck cause some chaos at their family's get together.

The next morning Rosetta and her sisters were promptly put to work cleaning. They had been cleaning a bit all week and the house was kept relatively clean but usually before Christmas family friends like the Tucker-Silva household and Danna and Narcissa came over so they were cleaning up a little more then usual. A few times, more recently, Beck had come over as well for the little Christmas party but this time he was visiting family.

The party was pretty relaxed so it’s not like they were doing intense cleaning. That was more of something done during spring break. Regardless, later Nova and Adrian would make a few things and people would bring stuff.

As Rosetta wiped down a counter Eva’s eyes widened, focused on her hand.

“Is that a tattoo!” Eva exclaimed, stopping sweeping across the room where Rosetta had already wiped down counters to come over and grab Rosetta’s right wrist.

“Yes. What else would it be?”

Rosetta let Eva look at her hand in awe for a minute before she pulled her hand away, Nova entering the kitchen to put something away.

“I’m sorry did you say that Setta has a tattoo?” She said as she put some towels in a little cabinet. Rosetta’s mom didn’t seem upset and was more curious then anything.

“Yup! I did it myself with Dad’s old kit last night! Isn’t it cool!” She explained, proudly showing it to Nova. It was one of the few things she was excited about anymore.

“It’s a beautiful tattoo don’t get me wrong but how did you get your hands on the tattoo kit?” Nova asked, gently looking at Rosetta’s tattoo. “And how is it already healed?”

“It’s healed because I told Kiki and she used her powers to summon something to heal it with. Also dad gave me the tattoo kit when I asked for it,” Rosetta explained, pulling away and going back to doing her work.

“What did Dad do?” Valerie asked as she came to put cleaning supplies away.

“Yeah I’m confused as to what I did too?” Adrian said as he came in from another room.

“You gave me the tattoo kit so I could give myself a tattoo.” She held up her hand. “Okay family announcement. I have a tattoo and I used my friends powers to heal it completely. Dad gave me the kit and I did it myself. Are we all caught up now?”

Nova shrugged. “I mean I’m not surprised and it’s cool I just wish you had told me that you were going to do it.”

She then left and everyone dispersed, going back to whatever chores they were doing prior.

“You’ll give me a tattoo one day right?” Eva asked quietly, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

Rosetta grinned. “Eventually. Wait until you’re 17 and I’ll take care of it.”

Eva smiled back and they high-fived before they turned to their work.

It didn’t take long for all the work to be finished and Rosetta went and got ready. It wasn’t anything super formal so she got dressed like normal. Of course her style was extravagant compared to most people’s.

Rosetta pulled out her phone and texted Ellie.

Me: Wear your Aquarium t-shirt that we got the other day. We can match and I want to see just how differently we’re going to look.

Pineapple: Great thinking.

Pineapple: I love your mind

Me: Thank you. This was the one time it worked.

Me: Also heads up I gave myself a tattoo

Me: *insert photo*

Pineapple: Looks cute. Like all the doodles you make on your homework. I love it.

Me: Thank you!!!!!

Rosetta pulled out the green Aquarium t-shirt from the closet where she had hung it up. She also grabbed her black button up that had green leaves on it and a black skirt. She tucked the aquarium shirt into the skirt and threw the button up on over top before sliding on fishnets and then compression shorts to both keep the fishnets from slipping down and in case her skirt flared up.

She did her normal makeup with dramatic eyeliner and black lip-gloss, then taking a ribbon and tying her hair back with it in a bow. She took out the safety pins in her ears and instead put on a pair of gaudy, novelty earrings that Ellie had made her. It was a pair of black worms on a string and Rosetta loved them wholeheartedly.

She then went to get her bright green nose ring but couldn’t find it which meant that Eva, who had gotten a nose piercing for her 15th birthday two months ago, had it. She had stolen a few of Rosetta’s things when she wasn’t around and it was high time she got them back.

She went to Eva’s room across the hall and opened the door. “Where’s my green nose ring?”

“I don’t have it,” Eva said, not even looking up from her switch.

“I left it here last week and haven’t touched it since and you’re the only other person who would take it.”

“Mom has a nose piercing.”

“Yeah but she’s never gone and taken my nose rings and she only ever wears studs. You’ve taken my green nose ring before however.”

Rosetta went into her room and started rummaging through Eva’s jewelry box.

“Hey! Leave my stuff alone!”

“You never leave my stuff alone and what I’m taking isn’t even yours!” Rosetta bit back, continuing to look. In one of the drawers she spotted the neon green nose ring and took it out. She also found a few other rings that belonged to her and took those too. Rosetta left and scrambled to her room where she put everything but the green nose ring away in her jewelry box and then hid the jewelry box in the back part of her closet where no one ever looked. She then put in the nose ring and went downstairs where people were arriving.

The Tucker-Silva family came in followed by Danna and Narcissa. At the sight of so many people, Pudge scurried off.

“Rose is that a tattoo?” Maya, Ellie’s older sister, asked as she came in, pointing at Rosetta’s hand.

“What else would it be?”

“Good point.”

“You can figure out if it’s permanent or not on your own. I’m not answering any more questions on it because the answer is pretty obvious.”

“Not the craziest thing that’s happened to her recently. Trust me. I watched her fall off a roof Friday over a clementine,” Ellie said as she took off her shoes. And that was only scratching the surface as numerous insane things had happened to Rosetta, many of which Rosetta didn’t know about. They were just between her and Beck mostly.

“Nova, Adrian, your child is insane,” Ruby said as she put something in the kitchen.

“As long as she’s not hurt,” Nova said, shrugging.

Rosetta and Ellie just laughed at that statement, causing more confusion then there already was. No one had any idea exactly how many times Rosetta had to go to the nurse and not even falling off the roof was the most insane thing that happened recently. No one but Danna and Narcissa knew about Rosetta getting powers or Ellie and Rosetta getting together. It was probably why they were the least shocked of all at anything happening. Of course there were also all the insane adventures Rosetta had that Ellie, Danna, and Narcissa didn’t know about.

Ellie and Rosetta then went upstairs to her room, shutting the door behind them. She pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.

“So how has break been?” Rosetta asked. “I’m sure you’ve missed me.”

“Oh yes. I’ve missed you so much in the past day without you,” Ellie snorted.

Rosetta turned on all of the lights Ellie liked before settling in her chair, Ellie amused as she watched all the LED lights flash pink and purple, dancing on glass bottles in Rosetta’s room. She stood in the center of the room, looking around before she went and grabbed Rosetta’s bass guitar off it’s hook from the wall. She handed it to Rosetta.

“Play for me please. You’re working on a new song right?” Ellie asked, flashes of light bouncing off her glossy hair.

Rosetta smiled, rolling her eyes in a playful manner. “I swear to Christ, sometimes I think you’re only dating me because I play bass.”

“It’s not the only reason but it’s definitely one of them,” Ellie laughed. “Either you are the bass playing girl or you’re into a bass playing girl.”

“That’s fair,” Rosetta agreed, plugging her guitar into her amp and making a few minor adjustments.

Ellie sat on the bed, satisfied, and pulled out one of her sewing projects from her bag to work on it while Rosetta played for her. She kicked her feet as she put in new stitches, smiling and humming along as Rosetta played Boys Will Be Bugs by Cavetown for her. It was one of her favorite songs.

The two of them were content to just be with each other and not speak, each of them doing their own thing, enjoying the other’s presence. Neither of them exactly cared much for what was happening downstairs. Rosetta was definitely a party person but this wasn’t her type of party and she saw everyone downstairs often. She hadn’t seen much of Ellie’s siblings lately but she had just said hello to them and that was good enough for her.

“Okay come here. You’re being too pretty and hot playing the bass guitar and now I have to kiss you,” Ellie said, waving Rosetta over with her finger.

Rosetta was more then happy to comply, coming over to the bed where Ellie was.

Ellie crawled over her, pressing gentle kisses to her neck and face, making Rosetta laugh. She only stopped giggling when Ellie was instead kissing her on the lips like there was no tomorrow.  
Rosetta ran her hands through Ellie’s hair, delighted by kissing her. She loved the smell of peppermint that swarmed her and the way Ellie’s dark, glossy, brown hair felt like silk in her fingers. She loved the way Ellie kissed her and held her and touched her and she quickly found herself consumed by thoughts of her girlfriend.

Rosetta kissed her harder, getting a moan in response and then teeth biting her lip gently. Ellie’s mouth moved down her neck, pushing off her button up as Rosetta held Ellie closer to her, fingers digging into her back.

They stayed on the bed for what couldn’t have been too long, kissing at one another’s necks and playing with each other’s hair.

They were rudely interrupted by a knock on the door. They jumped apart, moving to fix themselves.

“Are you two in here?” Someone, Danna asked. “We’ve been calling you for five minutes to come eat.”

“Just a second,” Ellie said as she wiped lip-gloss that was Rosetta’s off of her collarbone. Rosetta then used her powers to make sure everything was back in place and as it should be, both on them and on her bed.

Rosetta opened the door to see Danna smirking, brow raised.

“You two were making out weren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Rosetta and Ellie admitted in sync. She laughed.

“Come on. Before anyone gets suspicious. You two are glad I came to get you or else someone might have barged in,” she said, clicking her tongue in disapproval. “You’re really not the stealthiest.”

“That’s fair,” Ellie said, shrugging as they all went downstairs.

As long as they weren’t caught.

Downstairs no one was actually sitting at the table. Everyone was eating and scattered around in their own little groups. The adults were all together with Maya, Caleb, Ellie’s older brother, and Valerie talking in one corner and Milo, Ellie’s younger brother, and Eva playing cards and eating in another.

Danna went and sat down with the adults, picking a plate off of a nearby table that had food on it. The plate must have been his.

Ellie and Rosetta went to the kitchen where food was and got plates. Rosetta placed herself on a free space on the counter and Ellie sat on the tile floor, leaning against Rosetta’s legs as they ate. She also recorded as she tossed up grapes for Rosetta to catch in her mouth while Rosetta played with Ellie’s hair.

Rosetta’s phone went off, a text from Beck.

BeLo: Hey I just got home. Can I come over?

Me: Of course. Just put on your aquarium shirt before you come over so all three of us will match.

BeLo: Already wearing it.

Me: Great!

Me: Also did you tell Ellie about the whole half-sister thing

BeLo: Yeah she’s filled in.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and Rosetta opened it for Beck. He joined them in the kitchen, wearing the socks and necklace Rosetta got him and the t-shirt that matchedRosetta and Ellie’s, flannel overtop. The only difference was that Ellie was in a dark pink color and Beck’s was in blue compared to Rosetta’s pale green.

“I really hate that we’re dressed like the fucking PJ Mask characters,” Beck said, flopping back on the tile.

“Really?” Rosetta exclaimed, kicking her legs from her seat on the countertop, letting them swing at the sides of Ellie’s head. “PJ Masks? Not even Alvin and the Chipmunks or the Power Puff Girls?”  
“We’ve literally dressed up as the Power Puff Girls for Halloween and we’re all wearing the same color now as we were then,” Ellie said.

The three of them had been together on Halloween since they were 6. The first time they went they went as the Power Puff Girls. Ellie was Blossom, Rosetta was Buttercup, and Beck was Bubbles. All of them had found a dress in that color and a black belt, Ellie’s hair up in a ponytail with a bow and Beck having his mom help put his hair in pigtails. It made for some good pictures.

“Look I am not in control of my mind!” Beck exclaimed, making all of them laugh. “But one good thing that came out of it was that I made a new game. Watch.”

With a wave of his hand, there was a upside-down dome shaped shield beneath him. He pulled his knees to his chest, tucking them into the shield and then pushed himself off, spinning around the kitchen. Rosetta and Ellie burst out with laughter, falling over giggling.

“I can’t believe none of us ever thought of this sooner,” Ellie wheezed.

“Wait!” Rosetta exclaimed. “Oh my Christ! Beck made one for each of us and we can all spin around and bump into each other like bumper cars!”

“Hell yeah! Human Beyblades!”

Suddenly there were shields beneath Ellie and Rosetta, both of them now on the floor. They curled up in them and pushed off, all three of them spinning around the kitchen howling with laughter as they collided and bounced off one another in the small space. Ellie even used her powers to help them pick up speed.

Unfortunately, they gained too much speed and lost control. Rosetta hit Ellie and was promptly sent out of the kitchen. She tumbled out of the little shield and rolled to the steps upstairs. She wasn’t hurt and if she was she was too busy wheezing from laughter to really notice. Ellie and Beck came out of the kitchen giggling, still in their shields and spinning around.

They caught attention quickly. No one must have cared much before, knowing that all three of them messed around a lot. However, Rosetta was laughing so hard that she was crying and her laugh and cry could sound similar to each other. It didn’t help that someone must have seen her roll into the steps and she was laying on the floor.

“Setta are you alright? Are you laughing or crying?” Adrian asked, looking over to see if she was alright.

“I’m- I’m- fine!” Rosetta gasped, holding her stomach as she tried to regain control of herself. It only made Beck, Ellie, and her all giggle even more.

“What are you three doing?” Oscar asked.

“Beck made us shields and we’re spinning in them to play human Beyblades,” Ellie snorted, trying to catch her breath.

Beck gave the adults a thumbs up as the shields dissolved. They all collapsed in the little entryway, red faced and trying to breath normally.

After that they all went up to Rosetta’s room.

“Okay so I saw this thing online where it was two friends laying down and then tilting their heads back to face each other and apparently when you do that you can’t not laugh so please, for your consideration, can we do that but with water in our mouths? All three of us?” Ellie asked, finding a random water bottle on Rosetta’s desk.

Rosetta laid down on the floor with her phone out, Beck immediately joining her.

“Ask and you shall receive babe,” Rosetta said as she opened up her TikTok. If them not being able to laugh did hold true it’d be a good video.

Ellie poured some of the water in their mouths and then laid down while Rosetta started filming. On the count of three by Beck’s hand, they all tilted their heads back.

Their faces were so distorted that Rosetta did find it funny but before she even had the time to process it and laugh, both Beck and Ellie spit out their water as they laughed which in turn, made Rosetta spit out her water and giggle relentlessly.

She cut off the camera and sat up. They all looked so stupid and now they were all spritzed with water, some of it soaking into the carpets strewn about Rosetta’s room. Of course it was just water and it would be fine but it wasn’t comfortable to be all wet.

“Hey Ellie. Terrific idea,” Beck complimented while Rosetta posted the video, tagging them in it.

They goofed around for a little more, crowding around on Rosetta’s bed to play cards before things turned to a more serious tone.

“So how have you been feeling?” Rosetta asked Beck.

Normally, when it came to Beck’s family, she gave him his space for a bit before she asked any questions. It wasn’t her place to get her nose in his personal business but she couldn’t exactly help console him without knowing the full story so usually she gave him time to calm down about the situation before they could really deep dive into it.

Beck shrugged. “I’m fine I guess. I mean, this was the first time we were ever invited to stay the night and actually be there on Christmas with my dad and now I’m not even going. My siblings are but- I don’t think I can without being upset at him. I mean he waited 18 years to tell us we had a sister only so he could now have us over for Christmas and that whole time he was supporting her but not me over the same shit and I-” He got choked up and both Ellie and Rosetta moved to console him.

“It’s okay Beck. Let it out,” Ellie said softly.

“-I just don’t know anymore alright,” he said, wiping his face.

Rosetta hadn’t realized that this was the first time Beck and his siblings were going to celebrate Christmas on Christmas with their dad at his house. He lived in a different state a few hours away and they saw him little so holidays were more of lunch out with one another a few days before the holiday or event actually was. Rosetta had assumed it was a time issue and not that Beck’s dad was hiding another child from them.

The rest of the night was just them huddled on the bed together, talking quietly about things. Rosetta laid back and Ellie and Beck curled around her. On one side was Ellie whose head was on Rosetta’s collarbone as she laid stomach down with an arm around Rosetta’s middle. Beck was on Rosetta’s other side, head on the arm Ellie had onRosetta’s stomach as he held onto Rosetta’s legs, his own in a weird position to fit the bed. Rosetta had an arm around Ellie and another around Beck, her hand on their heads as she ran her fingers through their hair.

They sat in silence and it was perfectly okay.

When Rosetta showed love and affection with her family, it was through talking and showing them her art. When Rosetta showed love with her friends, it was done through silence and just being there. They were always there for her and always listened to her and she always did the same for them. But sometimes the best way for her to show she cared and that she was listening and that she was there for them, was to be silent. To let them rant and to hold them. She would be quiet and put herself aside as much as she loathed closing down to the few people she ever spoke to.  
There was a connection and devotion made to others through silence.

They laid there until it was time for people to leave, Rosetta getting ready for bed afterwards.

She slept well that night.


	20. Let's Hide When Family Is Over Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The whole family is over at Rosetta's to celebrate and Rosetta is going to hide in her room as any sane person would.

In the morning, after gifts were open and they ate breakfast, Rosetta’s whole family came over to their house to celebrate. That meant Hugh, Simon, Evie, and Max, and their spouses and family as well. Danna and Narcissa were the only ones who didn’t come as Danna and Adrian were half siblings through their biological dad and they had very much taken up on being siblings. But Adrian had no incentive to meet his biological dad and Rosetta and her sisters had no incentive to meet him either. Of course they all loved having Danna and Narcissa as aunts.

Aside from that, Rosetta’s aunt Evie would bring her wife Emilia and her uncle Max would bring along Henry and their two kids, Alex, who was 12, and Dean, who was 7 so there would still be plenty of family members around.

Despite the age gap, Rosetta and her sisters got along quite well with their cousins. Eva and Alex had always been a duo since they were closest in age and Valerie loved to spoil both Dean and Alex. However, Rosetta and Dean had their own weird bond.

The two of them were relatively quiet and would often just go off on their own together to some corner to hang out. He’d tell her all about his adventures at elementary school and she’d show him all the fun things she did at school.

When they got there everyone said hello and of course everyone was asking about school. Rosetta had no interest in that at all. Everyone always asked about her grades and she thought it was stupid. If she was having trouble in school they would know.

No one ever even cared about her music itself aside from Dean. They all just asked about standard classes like math and science.

Eventually she just went to the corner of the room everyone was crowded in and took out her notebook, beginning to draw, Dean quietly taking a seat next to her and opening up a Magic Tree House book. Rosetta had recommended it to him.

Instead of just a normal cartoon, she started drawing a formless figure. It was blob like, the only distinct features being the large, malicious grin with sharp fangs and the massive horns sprouting off from the top, gnarled and twisting.

“And how has your break been?” Hugh asked, disrupting her from her peaceful corner where she was doodling. She had been forced to come down from her room.

“I’m reading chapter books now,” Dean said proudly, holding up the book.

“What’s that about?”

“Time travel and treehouses,” he said, swinging his legs on the chair.

“And you Rosetta?”

“Fine. I saw friends and went to the aquarium,” she said before beginning to feel herself already starting to become drained from all the people. Rosetta needed a friend with her. She adored Dean but he was much younger and didn’t always understand. Of course that didn’t mean that the two of them didn’t have good conversations but occasionally the age gap caused a communication problem.

It was already becoming hard to talk to them all again. And most of it revolved around just not wanting to talk to her parents, if she even knew how. It was either quick little sentences or long rants that made her feel like she was annoying and weird despite everyone trying to act like it wasn’t. But Rosetta knew better, years of kids and teachers being upset with her for it made that abundantly clear.

Talking with friends was much easier. They were her friends because they liked her and they never minded her rants or found them annoying. Oftentimes they contributed. All of them just made things fun and made conversations interesting to her. Even if she didn’t go on her tangents, she had no interest in what everyone else was talking about. It was boring to her and she knew nothing about it all, having nothing to say.

It was better for her to just stay silent and have nothing to say about their conversations then to try to hold one herself when the entire room didn’t have anything to say.

Hugh looked down at her drawing.

“What’s the drawing of?” He asked, a little confused.

Rosetta’s artwork was a lot of 1930s style cartoons. But that was what she mostly put on tests and in her other notebooks. The one she had now was specifically reserved for all her weird and demented drawings. Inky black figures filled up the pages, some with fangs and others horns, several with bright white eyes and the only visible and usually horrifying features being a blinding white or red to contrast the black.

“A demon I guess,” she said quietly. He may have wanted to know but it was clear he was a little weirded out by what was on the page. Quiet kids making demented drawings usually were concerning to people.

“Oh,” he said a little awkwardly. Her grandfather’s tone quickly changed to be more upbeat. “Well it looks nice?”

It didn’t matter. Rosetta could tell that he was weirded out by it.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, turning back to her work. Her horror drawings weren’t exactly something she liked to share. It was something for herself. If anyone wanted her art they were free to look at her other notebooks with all her cartoons and animations but the creepy ones were for her.

Rosetta closed the book but her attention was caught again by her uncle Max coming inside with a large package in his arms. It was a terribly wrapped gift with her name on it.

“Max what is all this?” Adrian asked, seeing Rosetta’s name on it. Her aunts and uncles had teamed up and sent her a gift already.

“It’s her actual gift. Evie and Emilia only let us take partial credit for the one they sent you. I wanted to see her reaction in person,” He said, handing it over to Rosetta proudly.

All eyes were on her as she tore off the wrapping paper gasping. Rosetta’s eyes lit up. It was a new guitar, this one not bass or acoustic which were the ones she currently owned. It was shiny and beautiful and already decorated.

It had black and white pin stripes and in the bottom left side there were the faces of the sun and moon, both of them connected. However, from their eyes dripped vibrant bolts of color which spilled our and swirled around the guitar. It was incredible.

She didn’t even want to change or add to it as she usually decorated the instruments she owned.

Her cello was covered in doodles and scribbles in markers, her bass guitar was covered in stickers, her acoustic and her keyboard were both painted on, her acoustic with flowers and her piano with a giant red dragon. Her old electric guitar had been painted on too, with the hands from God Creating Adam.

“Thank you!” She gasped excitedly, admiring it.

“It’s so cool!” Alex and Dean cheered. Max, Evie, Emilia, and Henry high-fived each other. Clearly there was collaboration across all four of them.

“I remembered you saying that you always used one at school when recording things for class so I figured you should just get your own. I saw it and it was second hand so it might need some fixing but I know you’d rather reuse things and you can probably fix a guitar.”

“It’s awesome.”

“She’s going to space out for the next 10 hours isn’t she?” Eva asked.

Rosetta said nothing in response, already focusing on the guitar. She noticed the miniature amp attached to it. She flicked the switch and it turned on, much to her delight.

Immediately, she played a short riff, just something to test it out. It sounded great. It needed new strings and then tuning after but that was more of a personal preference. Kiki, Beck, and her had spent weeks testing out different strings on guitars to figure out which ones they each liked best. Rosetta’s personal favorite was one from a brand called Skidd.

“Don’t you already have two guitars though?” Simon asked.

“Yeah but one’s acoustic and one’s bass. This is just a normal electric guitar. Acoustic and electric are obviously different but a bass guitar plays in the lowest octaves which is why it’s different,” Rosetta explained, only half paying attention as she sat on the floor to go mess with the guitar. “It’s all easy fixes. Just some fresh strings, tuning, and general clean up.”  
She pulled her kit out of her backpack and then undid the strings, taking them off completely and setting them aside. She took out a cotton swab and dipped it in one of the cleaners she had, running a small streak of it onto the guitar. Nothing came off thankfully.

Rosetta set the cleaner aside and then opened up one of the waxes she used and did another quick test in which she learned it was safe to use. She grabbed out a roll of tape, a pen, and then tore out some paper from her notebook, labelling both products for safe use on the new guitar.

After that was done she poured some of the cleaner onto a soft cloth and cleaned everything off. It was second hand and while it was in perfect condition there was still a little dust and grime caked into the crevices. She used another cotton swab to help in the smaller spots and then repeated the process with the wax.

Rosetta packed everything up, putting everything back in it’s proper slot in the kit before opening a new pack of guitar strings. She always carried packs of strings around with her, having her instrument kit in her bag at all times. She had restrung a guitar or instrument hundreds of times and got the job done effectively, saving the old strings for any future instance.

Maybe she’d use them for an art project or even slap them on her wall. She could give them to Ellie for her to test out if you could embroider or sew with guitar strings. Maybe she’d just give them to someone else to use or save them for an emergency. Like Max had said, Rosetta wasn’t one to waste things and the strings themselves were perfectly fine.

“Do you have an entire fixing kit with you in your backpack? Also did you bring your backpack downstairs even though we haven’t left the house?” Valerie asked.

“Well what does it look like?” Rosetta asked, then ignoring everyone else and going into her own little world like she so often did around anyone that wasn’t her friends.

After that she said little else, focusing on working with the new guitar. She then pulled out her phone and pulled out her tuning app as she rotated the little tuners at the top of the head of the guitar.

Eventually, as chatter Rosetta didn’t want to participate in filled the room, she slipped out, taking her things with her. She went to her bedroom instead. This way she could focus and not bother anyone.

Rosetta sat on the floor, leaning against her bed and ignoring her desk, continuing to fiddle with it, trying out different riffs and chords and working on music. It was relaxing to her.

She pulled out one of the CapriSuns that Lana and her had hoarded from her backpack and opened it as she scribbled things down in one of her many notebooks, taking out her computer and all her equipment needed that she carried around. Lately she had been trying to write a piece that was more complex and had a lot of parts happening in the background. It didn’t mean it would necessarily be good as a simple song could be amazing and a complex one could be terrible, but she wanted to make something intricate. She wanted to put a lot of time and effort into a piece and see just how amazing she could make it turn out.

At school she had been using every instrument she knew how to play to work out all the harmonies. She had even conscripted Beck and Kiki and their instrumental abilities to come and help. It was a big project for her and it wasn’t even one she planned on using for a school grade. It was something she wanted to do on her own.

Rosetta was still working out the last part with the electric guitar and then the final details. Getting an electric guitar was a miracle. She could have always asked Kiki to source one for her but she didn’t care much for doing that at all. It felt more like she was taking then receiving them.

That and Kiki often didn’t like to use her powers for things like that. She used them to get things only needed temporarily.

She also had a bunch of editing to do to the audio once she did have the pieces made and she would have to borrow a few things from the school for that as well. Rosetta could make do with what she had but it would take much longer then if she were to wait for break to finish and use school given materials.

As she went along on the piece, Max had come and found her. Rosetta had her guitar and several things spread around her, notebooks and pencils and sheet music and juice pouches and her recording equipment all set up.

“Geeze kid. How much was in that bag of yours?” Max laughed, sitting by her.

“Umm…. a lot,” Rosetta said. “I always keep everything I need in here at all times and it goes everywhere with me.”

Her backpack was huge, holding all sorts of things. Her school supplies not only included notebooks but also all her gear for her instruments and recording and production. In Rosetta’s mind juice pouches and snacks also counted as school supplies. Very important school supplies too.

Max opened her bag and looked through it.

“Are these packs of gummy bears and juice boxes? Also five packs of strings?” He asked, amazed as he took things out.

“Snacks count as school supplies. Also the strings are for all my instruments. A pack for each; the cello, electric guitar, bass guitar, acoustic, and harp,” she explained.

“Harp? You play the harp?”

Rosetta nodded, taking back everything and putting them back in their proper places. She was a very organized person. She had to be in order to keep track of all she needed for going between school and home and being able to keep everything she needed for music ready.

“What are you working on?” Max asked, looking at all the sheet music and recording apps running on Rosetta’s laptop.

“A song.”

“For class?”

She shrugged. She wasn’t sure if she would turn it in as an assignment in class or not. She had been putting months of effort into it without being asked so she wasn’t sure if she wanted to show it off or refuse to let it be graded as a normal assignment.

“Oh,” Max said. “Well what else can you play? Anything that you’ve written that you want to play?”

The idea of someone curious about her music was a nice feeling. But she wasn’t going to play him one of the songs she had written because she wasn’t about to out herself. However, she knew plenty of songs on the guitar that she could play.

Still she didn’t want to play. The rest of the family could possibly hear even if her room was in the attic and she didn’t feel like getting any questions about it. If anyone in her immediate family wanted to hear her play, they either would have shown up or would have asked about it by now.

Rosetta shook her head. “Not the time.”

“All that work in school and you won’t even play.” He shook his head and clicked his tongue. “By the way how is school going for you? Keeping up your grades?” Max asked.

Rosetta huffed. “Why does everyone always ask me that? Trust me I’m not failing and if you think I can play the guitar so well then why even bother asking?”

“Alright that’s a fair point. What about math and non-music studies?”

“Fine. I finally got a 100 on a math test which is pretty damn good.”

“That must have been exciting.”

“Not the most insane thing that’s happened at that school or to me in general.”

“Like your tattoo?” He asked, pointing to her hand.

Rosetta shrugged. “I mean that’s one of the things. Also not the craziest.”

She had done way more. She had fallen off a roof for a clementine and had grabbed two random snakes in the air before. She had caught a pigeon in a parking garage, skated down water slides at an abandoned theme park, and even ridden down a street in a trashcan at 2 in the morning. Then of course there was the time where Beck accidentally got high on LSD and it led to Rosetta having to fight a pack of raccoons covered in milk at 3 in the morning behind a convenience store.

It still wasn’t the craziest thing that had happened to her so far. Rosetta would consider the time she was walking under a bridge in a body of water without any shoes on while eating a pack of gushers the weirdest thing that had ever happened to her. She had no clue where she even was nor how she got there. She just remembered chasing down Pudge and all of the sudden, she was there.

“Are you going to tell me what the craziest thing that happened was or not?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I’ll tell you that after I graduate. That way I’ll know for sure. Maybe I’ll rank them for you.”

“For someone who barely says that anything has happened at school you seem to have gone on a lot of adventures,” he pointed out.

He was right but Rosetta never really cared to talk much about things that involved school. That was her own little world and there was a lot she had behind closed doors, far more then anyone could have guessed. And she didn’t feel like giving up any of it.

Her life outside of her family was hers and hers only. She made it. She got to choose who knew about it and who got to be part of it.

“Maybe so. But by the time I get to tell any of you it’s already lost its craziness to me.”

Rosetta began to put some of her things back in her backpack as Pudge scrambled around her room to try and mess with it. Max let her be after that.


	21. Let's Hide When Family Is Over Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the family event continues Rosetta just chills with Dean in her room because he's the one family member she likes.

Dean teleported into the room, in awe of everything. Clearly he didn’t care for the stairs to her bedroom.

“Woah!” He exclaimed. “Valerie said your room was scary but this is so cool!”

He usually saw Rosetta at their grandparents house and while he had come over several times before, both were before Rosetta had moved herself into the attic, tired of sharing with Eva on the floor below. Her parents had let her, tired of Eva and her arguing all the time.

Rosetta rolled her eyes. It wasn’t that her room was scary as in creepy, it was more scary as in psychedelic and outright weird to most people.

The room was dark with deep green walls and a rainbow spiral ceiling, emerald curtains over the singular window of the room. On the ceiling there were also glow in the dark stars and a bunch of cassettes with the tapes pulled out. Worms on a string, butterflies, and paper cranes hung down and on the walls there were all sorts of posters, drawings, tickets, pictures, and other forms of memorabilia. Anything that could be put on the wall or hung up was, with random bunches of flowers and garlands of sorts strung about. On lamp shades she had beaded necklaces and flowers crowns and masks tied onto them. On the posts of her bed she had tied a mixture of scarves and blankets of scarves to make a canopy of sorts. From the tops of each post was a frilly sheet of iridescent fabric that Ellie had helped her put up, intertwined with some lights and fake ivy.

A broken guitar was above her bed and records had been turned into shelves. Skateboards were hung up on one wall and CDs were all over the walls as well. There were a bunch of rugs in bright colors and patterns layered on the floor and a chair hanging in the corner. The lights hung from her ceiling were clouds and LED lights and fairy lights along with fake ivy plants were strung around the corners of the room. Another wall was entirely covered in crushed cans and glass bottles, lollipop wrappers and stickers filling up the cracks.

Her door was covered in her artwork with random things doodled on it and other items like papers and music sheets plastered on though it was partially covered by the set of cowboy hats and baseball caps hanging up. Rosetta barely wore any of them however.

Her furniture was well decorated too. Her bed frame was covered in sharpie doodles, an extra mattress beneath it for when all her friends slept over. Her dresser had been splattered with glow in the dark paint and on top it was covered in sheet music with glass over top to seal it. They had gotten it second hand. Her desk was covered in stickers and then on her vanity she had carved a bunch of things into the wood. Some were drawings of things like skulls or flowers while others were phrases and words that were senseless.

Cluttered on the surfaces were all sorts of objects. Countless knick knacks that she had bought or had been given by her friends were everywhere along with a few plants that did well in the dark and random crystals and rocks she liked. She also had a handful of music awards scattered around as she had no idea what to do with them.

But Dean was having a field day, looking around her room eagerly. No one ever came in her room because no one but Rosetta or Pudge exactly liked it.

He placed himself in his lap facing her and then grabbed his face with his little hands.

“How do you make your eyes look like that? How did you put the spikes around them?”

She laughed. She had been wearing makeup like this for a few years now, all of high-school for that matter, and while Alex had been scared of it at first, Dean was too little to remember her looking any different so it never had creeped him out.

“Eyeliner,” she explained. “It’s like a pen that’s safe for your skin so you can draw stuff on your body.”

“Oh. Is your tattoo actually real? Your dad said it was when my dad asked about it.”

“Of course it’s real. I did it myself.”

“With the eyeliner? Does that mean the eye spikes are permanent too?”

Rosetta laughed and shook her head. “No they aren’t permanent. I have to draw them on everyday. Eyeliner washes off. The ink I used for my tattoo doesn’t.”

Dean looked disappointed by that, peeling away from her and going to sit in the chair swinging in her room.

“You’ll teach me how to do eyeliner one day right?”

Rosetta smiled. There was a reason the two of them got along well. They were almost the same person.

“When you get older I will,” she assured.

“You know what else you can do?” Dean asked.

“What?”

“Play the guitar for me!”

He then shot towards her guitar and began to pluck the strings. She swatted him away but because he could teleport, it was no use. He kept playing random strings until she finally agreed. She loved that he wanted to hear the guitar but she wasn’t in the mood to play for the whole family if they heard from upstairs.

“Fine. Do you have a song request?” She asked.

“Hmm,” he said, holding his chin in his hand and making a face. It was awfully cute on him as he was a little kid. “You pick. I don’t know any guitar songs but you have to sing too.”  
Rosetta shook her head. “No. I’m not singing. Sorry Dean.”

“But you have to!” He complained. “You can’t play the guitar and not sing!”

“Actually you can. That’s how I learned.”

“Then I guess I’ll just have to go throw a tantrum and make you look mean,” Dean said, shrugging. For a little kid, he was pretty smart and also pretty devious. Rosetta wasn’t going to lie. It might have been from her influence as she had taught him some of her tricks on how she got herself out of trouble.

He opened his mouth to scream but Rosetta cut him off.

“Fine. Fine. I’ll sing you little monster,” she said, flicking him. He just laughed.

Rosetta had a sneaking suspicion that someone might have asked him to do this. Her family was probably aware that she could sing, as she tended to hum or mumble lyrics when she zoned out doing something, and oftentimes her aunts and uncles liked to hear her play though do to her wanting to be silent around the rest of her family, she hardly would.

Rosetta turned down the sound on the amp. She figured she’d just play a soft song. Nothing too loud and attention worthy though if she was all alone, she would play a louder song like Spiderhead by Cage the Elephant.

She chose an old Peach Pit song called You and Your Friends. It had soft spoken lyrics and was more focused on the fun and beautiful guitar music in the song. It was a song that when you listened the lyrics weren’t as noticeable as the instruments and that was perfect for Rosetta.

That and it was a fun song in general, a personal favorite of Rosetta’s.

Dean closed his eyes and pretended to drum for a bit. Other then that he waved his arms back and forth and cupped his mouth, making a whispering cheer. She laughed at his expressions and movements as she played.

When she finished, he clapped as she turned off the amp and put things away. She then dug around and found some old coloring books and washable markers that were stored away in her closet. It was the attic after all and while part of her closet was for her clothes and items, on the other side of a divider random things like decorations were stored. It made things a hassle occasionally but not often enough for her to care much. Her parents and family left her things alone and everything she was hiding was either in the hidden room, which no one knew about, or behind the spare mattress beneath her bed which no one checked under since no one came into her room all that often.

Dean and Rosetta stayed with each other in the attic, enjoying each other’s presence and coloring. Pudge was resting between them, purring as he rested in a cardboard box Rosetta fetched out of the closet.

“Pass me the blue please,” Dean asked, reaching out his hand. Rosetta turned her body, both of them on their stomachs as they laid on the floor, and grabbed the marker out of the pack. She handed it to him and he used it to color the flowers in the book.

“So how do you like art classes?” Rosetta asked him as he colored, tongue sticking out a little. Both of them were kicking their feet to the beat of the music Rosetta had playing on her CD player in the corner of her room.

She knew that he had recently been signed up for them as he loved to color, like they were doing now. So his dads had gotten him into art classes at a local place.

“It’s fun! I like it! My dad puts all the projects over the apartment!” Dean said proudly.

Rosetta smiled. She was happy for him. She just wished that it was still like that for her. The art she made when she was a little kid was still hung up around the house but nowadays, knowing that they really weren’t keen on her career in the arts, she never showed them any of her drawings or even told them about her EP. She would have loved to hang up the album cover in the house but she didn’t think they’d really be happy that she was actually pursuing art.

“I’m glad,” Rosetta said. “You’re really good at it.”

“One second,” he said. He teleported out of her room and teleported back in, a few minutes later. He handed her a drawing. It was a watercolor painting of flowers, his name scribbled in a purple crayon in the corner. For the work of a seven year old it was really good.

“I made it for you!” Dean said, proud of himself. “You always send me a gift so I wanted to give one to you!”

“Thank you!” Rosetta said, beaming with joy. “I’ll put it up in my room at school so I can look at it every day,” she promised.

She then put it carefully in a folder in her backpack. She’d put it up once she got to school.

“You know you’re getting really good at art,” Rosetta complimented.

Dean’s eyes lit up. “Really? Do you think I’ll be good enough to go to GATA!”

“Sure. But why do you want to go to GATA? Do you want to be an artist when you grow up?”

He nodded rapidly, beaming. “I want to be just like you!”

It warmed her heart. At least someone was proud of her. At least someone she knew looked up to her and admired her for her artist abilities.

She pulled Dean into a hug, blowing kisses on her baby cousin’s cheeks. She stood and held him by his legs, raising him in the air to drop him and then catch him over and over again. He giggled relentlessly, showing off his toothy grin.

They were having so much fun that they didn’t even realize when the door opened.

It was her dad and he laughed when he saw them.

“No wonder you two didn’t hear us when we called for you. Come on. Food is ready,” Adrian said as Rosetta tossed Dean onto her bed. He bounced off and ran out to grab onto Rosetta’s hand as they went downstairs.

People were mingling in the kitchen, getting food while they laughed and talked.

Rosetta grabbed a plate for herself and then got one for Dean since he couldn’t reach all that well. It wasn’t like he couldn’t use his teleportation powers to get it but Rosetta still did it anyways.  
Her younger cousin stayed at her side, welcoming her assistance as she put things on his plate and helped him get things he couldn’t reach. Of course Rosetta never gave him any vegetables either, just letting him take all the blueberries his heart desired while she hoarded the grapes.

“You know you should play your guitar more,” Evie said as she came beside Rosetta, grabbing food off a plate. “You’re really good.”

Rosetta could feel heat rising up her neck and face. No one but Dean was supposed to hear. And if Evie heard that meant that everyone else probably heard. And it meant that they didn’t really care for her music.

“Thanks,” she mumbled.

“Seriously kid. Don’t hide it. I don’t know why you’d go to school for music but be so shy to play.”

Rosetta shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t play. It’s just…. different.”

Playing in front of classmates and teachers was fine to Rosetta. They knew the feeling of stage fright and loved music the way she did. Rosetta was also fine with playing in front of strangers. They were there to either enjoy the music or they were meaningless blimps in her life. And playing for her friends was always something she was comfortable with because half her friends were musicians like her and the ones who weren’t encouraged her endlessly.

But it wasn’t like that at home. They didn’t want her being a musician. They didn’t even remember to show up for something as important as the Showcase. So it made no sense to Rosetta why she should play for them when they obviously didn’t want her to.

“Well I think that someday, eventually, you should play,” Evie said.

Before any more could be said, Dean tugged on Rosetta’s shirt.

“Rosetta you have to come eat with me or your cat tries to take my food!” He said, looking up at her and grabbing her hand. He pulled her away and she followed, laughing.


	22. Rosetta Goes to the Nurse's Office Yet Again What a Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> School is starting back up again and Rosetta finds herself once more in the nurse's office due to her and her friend's antics.

By the time school started again, Rosetta had lost any excitement over holidays that everyone still had. Everyone was buzzing about what they did over break but the thing giving Rosetta most joy at the moment was the marathon of the Madagascar movies she had with Beck the previous night and with her 18th birthday looming ahead of her, it was needed as her birthday prevented her from being excited if she were to be in the first place.

Rosetta, as much as she wanted to be on the other side of the country, far away from her family and on her own, was absolutely terrified of adulthood. It was so close and everyone was talking about how she’d finally be an adult. But Rosetta didn’t want that. She didn’t want the responsibilities and decisions.

Her fear had started in her Sophomore year when everyone was encouraging her to start making decisions about her future. Just because she had a plan already in her mind didn’t mean it was going to follow through. Her family was well aware that her goal was to move out to LA once she finished high school for music but she had never quite explained how she was going to do that since they didn’t know about her EP or anything that she had produced online.

But aside from that, while she had money saved from her work in music and planned for touring, there was no telling how the future would go after that. As much as she hated to keep living with her parents, they were still safe. But she’d be far away from that and she certainly didn’t plan on ever coming back or ever asking for their help. And if all her best laid plans crumbled, then she’d be on her own.

That and she hated the idea that legally creepy old men could hit on her legally. That was the worst part.

The thought of all of it was terrifying to her and it would all start when she turned 18 in just a few short days.

At least she had made some plans with her friends so it wasn’t so dreadful of a day. They were going to go out to a restaurant and before that Ellie and her were going on a date to the Museum of Ice Cream. Rosetta was especially happy about that.

But for now, she was lying across Meg’s bed, working on a project with her and Lana. Their class was learning about King Henry’s Six Wives and had been split up into groups, each to give a presentation on one of the queens and how they were wronged in history. Lana, Meg, and Rosetta had gotten Catherine of Aragon.

“Well for starters the divorce was fucked up,” Rosetta said as she made an online document for them all to share. She set her laptop in front of her and then fidgeted with her hands, pounding her fist into her palm back and forth to stimulate and help herself focus.

“Oh no for sure. I feel like that’s so well known that we should put it at the end of the presentation though because there were more ways she was harmed,” Lana agreed.

“I think you mean by the way she was harmed as in the way women as a whole were treated,” Meg snorted as she went on the doc, typing something onto it.

“Oh for sure. I mean I get there was the whole War or Roses and all that shit and she wasn’t having any more children, but he still shouldn’t have been sleeping with other women when he had a whole ass wife AKA Aragon.”

“Don’t forget about how she pretty much lived in poverty a bit before she married him because Henry was arguing about shit so everyone just abandoned her in England and how after the divorce she was separated from her daughter completely and wasn’t allowed to see her even on her deathbed and had to die alone and painfully. At least that’s what this article is saying.”

“Okay can you guys just write this down instead of making me cry,” Rosetta said, furiously typing on the document before going back to her hand motions.

“Etta if we don’t tell you there’s a low chance you will read anything we put on the document,” Meg reminded. Rosetta liked to read but only when it was by choice. If not it just wouldn’t process or she just didn’t have the energy to do it.

“I know but hey!” Rosetta exclaimed, reaching out and kicking her playfully. Meg laughed and shoved her back.

“For now why don’t we gather some evidence before we get too off track. Remember the Mexican American War presentation we had to do?” Lana reminded them.

Rosetta laughed. It had been fun in the end and even factored into their Power Point party. They had found that the treaty that ended the war was signed on February 2nd which was Groundhog’s Day and after that the jokes about Punxsutawney Phil and the research put towards the groundhog itself spiraled out of control. They did end up delivering a great presentation on it and got a good grade.

“Don’t forget to copy and paste the URL onto the doc Lana,” Meg warned.

A few times they had nearly had to redo projects or at least spent a few hours longer on a project because they didn’t have the website and therefor couldn’t site it and therefor couldn’t use the information from it, sending them on a hunt for the source or at least one with the same information.

They spent another hour or so in Meg’s room, scrolling through website after website, looking at all the sources Mr. Gonzalez had given them. They got as much information as they could before it was dinner time. At least as much as they could before they all went insane.

The three of them gathered their things and went to the cafeteria for dinner. They met up with the others there, all of them getting food and gathering around the table.

“So how was everyone’s break?” Kiki asked, taking a sip from her cup of ice water. She would drink water with way too much ice in it no matter the weather.

“Interesting,” Beck and Rosetta said in sync. Both of them looked at each other and laughed. While their friend group was aware of what happened with Beck’s dad and apparent half-sister, only the two of them knew about him getting wasted at the party and the two of them lying down in the frozen grass at 1 in the morning.

Everyone else gave them a weird look but waved it off. The two of them were always being weird together. It was how their friendship worked.

“Oh we never told you guys!” Ellie said excitedly. “So Beck created the genius game of Human Beyblades.”

“I already don’t like where this is going,” Meg said, concerned.

“Can’t relate. Please proceed,” Lana encouraged.

“We get in a shield I make and we spin into each other like Beyblades. Don’t know why it took me forever to come up with this but it’s here now and it’s great. We should all try it tonight outside,” Beck said happily.

“Oh my stars yes!” Lana exclaimed.

“Besides that. It was fine. It was relaxing for me,” Kiki said, dispersing whatever new bad idea was about to appear.

“My older brother and sister came back from college and I got to see them which was good,” Ellie said.

“Oh how are they?” Meg asked.

“They’re doing good. Maya’s having fun becoming a marine biologist and Caleb is enjoying becoming an astrophysicist,” Ellie said proudly.

“And we’re over here playing Human Beyblades,” Rosetta snorted.

It was weird because with Ellie and Rosetta, both of them had older siblings going into a career that was respected and made everyone think you were a genius. Ellie and Rosetta however were art students and clearly had a very different route when it came to interests and talents. It didn’t make their older siblings any better, but Rosetta thought it was ironic. Yet of course, there’s always a family member that never fits in.

“My younger sister had fun. She got a pair of roller skates because someone,” Kiki said, looking directly at Ellie. “Got her into roller skating and now she won’t stop.”

“Someone in your family had to take on the role of being cool and it wasn’t going to be you so she stepped it up,” Ellie retorted playfully.

“On another note,” Rosetta started.

“Oh boy,” Meg said under her breath. Rosetta reached on and flicked her. 

“On another note as I was saying,” Rosetta said, glaring at Meg, “I just watched the Madagascar Movies again last night with Beck and I don’t know why no one has ever said anything about the fact that Mort obviously has a foot fetish.”

“Really?” Meg asked. “Right in front of my dinner?”

“Let her speak Meghana,” Lana said, holding a finger up to Meg’s mouth.

“You’re going to tell me to not talk about it when the evidence is right there? He was obsessed with King Julien’s feet to the point where it helped factor into the plot of the movies and you’re going to tell me I’m wrong?”

“No you’re definitely right but why do you have to say this at dinner.”

“Because we’re almost done! People will talk about how King Julien is clearly a twink but not about Mort’s foot fetish. This is bullshit!”

Meg groaned and rested her head on the table. “Can you wait five more minutes? Can you wait until we go do whatever human beyblades stuff you all want to do?”

“It needed to be said Meg,” Beck defended. “Now or never.”

“I’m so glad I’m the one who can control the dead because when I die of all the stunts you guys drag me into then you can’t summon me and force me to continue associating with you all.”  
“Stop lying. You love us,” Kiki said as she got up to go put her tray away. The rest of them let Meg rest her head on the table in disappointment while they cleaned everything up.

After that, they went to their rooms and got their winter gear on. It was cold and icy out, Rosetta strapping on gloves and zipping her jacket up tightly before putting on boots and a knit hat her mom had made for her.

Outside, like promised, Beck gave each of them a shield. Ellie, Rosetta, and Beck showed them all how to spin. They collided, giggling and making a bunch of noise as the shields scraped the ice and bounced off each other.

Despite how cold it was, Rosetta being able to see her breath and watch as her friend’s noses got red, she wasn’t cold herself. The movement warmed her body up and she began to sweat in her jacket, pulling the zipped down a little to let in the cool air.

Their little shield sleds went down the sidewalk and across the snow-over grass as they bounced off one another. Even Meg, the most serious of their group, was howling with laughter. As students passed, noticing the commotion under the lights that lined the sidewalk, they laughed too. At GATA students, especially seniors, had a lot of free reign and this was just harmless fun.  
Except it was completely harmless as Rosetta went straight into the pole of one of the lights. She hit her head and fell out onto the snow. Her head was a little sore and she could feel blood seeping out from a cut.

“Are you okay!” Kiki shrieked, seeing Rosetta crash first.

Rosetta popped up from the snow and gave a thumbs up. “I’m bleeding a little on my forehead but other then that all good! I’ll just get a band-aid from the nurse’s office.”

“We should probably go inside anyways. If even one of us gets hurt slightly they won’t let us do this again so we better act like it didn’t happen,” Meg warned as she got out from her shield, walking gently across the icy pavement.

They all seemed to agree with that, Beck making the shields vanish as they went in. Rosetta shucked off her winter gear in her room and then went to the nurse’s office. She signed in right away and Carno paid her little attention.

“Do you have the signed paper?” She asked as she reorganized something in a cabinet.

“Yeah but that’s not necessarily why I’m here,” Rosetta said as she pulled it out of her bag. She had completely forgotten about it but it was a good thing she carried her bag around with her everywhere.

She gave Carno the paper as the nurse turned and frowned.

“I think you like to get hurt on purpose,” she sighed exasperatedly.

Rosetta shrugged. “Not really. I could have Kiki summon a band-aid and alcohol wipe to clean up the cut but at this point, if it’s just a band-aid I might as well get a nurse’s pass to add to the collection.”

“Collection!” Carno yelped as she handed Rosetta the alcohol wipe and band-aid.

“This is number 65 since freshman year. I always just shoved them at the bottom of my bag and we realized just how many I have. After this I need one more to complete the little space we made to hand them up,” Rosetta said as she went to a nearby mirror and cleaned off the blood, then sticking the band-aid over the little cut. It would be healed soon and she wasn’t too worried about it.

“It better be for something actually important Miss McLain,” Carno warned as she gave her another pass so she could leave.

“I’ll try but if I somehow don’t get injured again the rest of the year then the last day of school I’m coming here just for the sake of getting that pass.”

“I’ll pre-print the slip with the date and everything. It can be your graduation gift. Now go to bed. You have classes tomorrow.”

“Got it Carno! I’ll try not to see you tomorrow!” Rosetta said as she left and went to her own room.

“God I hope so.”

Rosetta laughed, going to her own room and putting the pass in her folder in her backpack. This way when she got home she could put it on her bedroom wall.

“Adding to the collection,” Beck asked as he came out of the bathroom in his pajamas, hair still wet as he had showered.

“I’m always adding to the collection,” Rosetta said as she gathered her things and took her own turn using the bathroom.


	23. Monster vs Redbull! Go!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosetta is dreading her upcoming 18th birthday.

Classes weren’t more interesting then usual for the next few weeks. At least for her, making her have problems paying attention. While everyone was still riding the holiday energy, she could care less for it, the dread of turning 18 filling her. Everyone said it wasn’t that scary but somehow, Rosetta felt it couldn’t be more untrue. Maybe for them, but for her it was different.  
She wasn’t sure if she was ready to be an adult.

Rosetta opened the little locker and changed out of her gym clothes. They played gaga all of class and she and Beck had gone at it with each other. Rosetta’s schedule changed after the break. 

She only needed three years of science and she completed it but she didn’t really care for science, she was okay at it, but she didn’t care for it, so she would hardly do the assignments. It led to a debate on whether or not she actually finished her science requirement. She talked her way into taking an extra half year and they agreed though if she really tried she could have gotten  
everything dismissed. Rosetta had picked up a lot of arguing skills from her mom as sometimes it paid to have a lawyer for your mother.

As a result her gym got moved up and she now had an open slot for a half year course. Rosetta decided on harp classes again. She knew how to play but since she didn’t have her own and she didn’t have classes, she barely was able to. Besides, there were only four other kids taking harp classes and Rosetta loved the teacher, Miss Pearson. It was such a small class that it made for good, in depth lessons.

Rosetta was sweating, perfectly happy to get out of her shorts and t-shirt and sneakers and back into her normal clothes. It was winter so she was putting on long clothes anyways but it was better then being in sweaty clothes. Her fishnets and platform boots would always be most comfortable for her.

“What’s on the lunch menu for today in the cafeteria?” Rosetta asked as she met up with Beck outside the locker room, touching up her makeup in a little compact. Setting spray was a miracle worker but her eyeliner could still get a little smudged and lipstick always needed to be redone after some point.

“You can have lasagna, lemon and garlic shrimp with veggies, or make your own sandwich.”

Despite how different the options were and despite how good the food at school was, since the students actually lived there, she didn’t feel like having any of those. She wanted cheap truck food or something from a convenience store. That and she really wanted an energy drink. She needed an energy drink truth be told since she just couldn’t focus and in classes her friends could very much see that she was becoming overwhelmed. Her friends would then take her to one of the bathrooms and help her calm down, letting her write what she was feeling down as it could make it easier for her to articulate how she was feeling compared to talking.

All throughout her classes she had been doodling, her leg always bouncing and playing one song on repeat at full volume when she had the chance to listen to music. It helped but not enough and Rosetta was pretty sure she had forgotten to take her meds, having woken up late.

“Fuck it. I’m going to go to a convenience store or something,” Rosetta said, diverting from the way to the cafeteria to the main exit, taking out her keycard. They were allowed to leave the campus to go eat. They would only get in trouble for being late to classes.

“I’ll come with you. I honestly really want pesto pizza from Tony’s,” he said.

There were several food trucks on the campus but they weren’t free like the meals provided by the school. However, sometimes it was nice to just get a meal from a food truck. Tony’s Pizza was one of the favorites, having little pizza’s you could make. 

However, Rosetta’s favorite was Mexx Mania specifically due to the gorditas they had there. The tacos were also great and so was the other available food, but she was mainly in it for gorditas. They were palm-sized tortilla packs filled with meat and cheese and other things and they were delicious.

The more she thought about them the more she wanted them.

“Lets get lunch at the food trucks and then eat as we go to the convenience stores to get drinks,” Rosetta suggested. “I’ll text the group chat and ask them if they want anything from the store.”  
He nodded as they went outside. Kids were scattered around, both of them joining their respective lines.

Granted, there were several items at the store that you could get at the vending machines on campus but not any that Rosetta wanted at the moment. Besides, a few of the shared items were ever so slightly cheaper and if they were already going to the store either way, it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

Me: Beck and I are at the food trucks and then going to the convenience store downtown. You guys want anything from the store?

Meg: Can you get me a can of Matcha Lite?

Pineapple: Can you get me the plum tea?

Lana: COOL RANCH DORITOS PLEASE!

Kiki: A bag of Anya’s Spiced Chips please and thank you

BeLo: Got it. Meet us by the main entrance before class starts.

Rosetta and Beck then got their food, meeting at the arch like they always did after they got food from the trucks. Her little red and white paper basket had three gorditas in it with a little salsa cup on the side and Beck’s paper plate was folded, the small circular pizza folded with it.

“Can I have a bite?” Beck asked.

“As long as I get a bite of yours.”

“Well obviously.”

As they left they switched off food quickly, Rosetta throwing down her board and Beck popping out the wheels of his shoes as they even further downtown until they reached the convenience store that they wanted. At that point both of them had finished their food, wiping their greasy hands on napkins and then throwing out their trash when they got inside of the store.

Like normal, it smelled of gasoline, sweat, and cleaning supplies that weren’t used at all and there was yellow, flickering lighting above. The base of the walls and the ceilings were striped a vibrant green and the glow from all the neon signs bounced off the shiny posters taped in the windows. Rosetta could hear the heating and cooling system running along with all the drink machines. 

The tile floor was completely covered in grime and there was dust everywhere like the tops of the slushy and coffee machines. There were rows of food and assorted items making isles, fridges and freezers in the back holding all sorts of drinks and ice creams and even some types of cheese sticks. The woman at the counter was surrounded by little baskets full of chips, the cash register next to her and the lottery tickets and cigarettes behind her.

They went and collected everything that had been requested, Beck in charge of all the snacks and his drinks and Rosetta getting the rest of the drinks.

She gathered it all in her arms; Meg’s matcha drink, Ellie’s plum tea, a raspberry Arizona for herself, and then two cans of Monster Energy.

Beck met her at the counter, both of them dropping the things down while they got checked out. He had gathered all the snacks and a six pack of Redbull for himself.

“Eww,” he gagged. “You got Monster Energy?”

Rosetta rolled her eyes. They both had very different opinions on energy drinks. While the two of them could agree that in general energy drinks tasted gross, Rosetta preferred Monster Energy and Beck liked Redbull.

“Shut up. You got Redbull,” Rosetta said, sticking out her tongue as they paid and took the bags of snacks. They threw them in her backpack.

Beck grabbed his Redbull and she took out one of the Monster Energy bottles, both of them opening up the cans. Rosetta put her skateboard down, Beck having just skated through the store, and they made their way back to campus.

Like the show off he was, Beck began doing some skating tricks. He was fluid, jumping over things and going across benches. Rosetta pulled out her phone and recorded him, giggling, enjoying some of the stares the two of them got from all the 13 year old girls passing in awe.

“Bet you can’t do those on your skateboard!” He said, sticking his tongue out as his Redbull sloshed in the can.

Rosetta passed him her phone.

“I can one up you though,” Rosetta said, grinning wickedly. She had been skateboarding since sixth grade. She knew exactly what she was doing.

She was very light on her feet, launching the board onto the edge of a passing metal bench, and spinning with the board as she landed. She jumped over a boxed tree on the side of the sidewalk and ended with a kick-flip which she knew that Beck could not do in heeley shoes.

“Okay fine. You win,” Beck said, handing her phone back, both of them finishing up their energy drinks.

“Pro-tip,” she laughed. “Don’t try and challenge a girl who’s been skateboarding for 6 years and has been in competitions.”

Rosetta had never won a competition but she had done well in them. She wasn’t as good as Kiki was but she was still good. Rosetta had gotten third place in local competitions once or twice while Kiki had gone to a large competition in New Jersey and got first. But then again Kiki had been skating since she was in the first grade and practiced daily, just as much as she did with music.  
Beck and Rosetta rolled up to the school, signing back in.

Their friends were waiting and they passed out the snacks and drinks. Everyone seemed satisfied and Rosetta finally had a little energy and focus back in her system, the events of the previous weeks having sucked it out of her. She had a feeling that there would be more trips downtown for energy drinks coming up but she’d cross that bridge when she got to it and once it was crossed, it was crossed, being able to go to the back of her mind.

“You’re anxious aren’t you?” Kiki asked as they went to their next class. Both of them had Vocals 4 together.

“What?”

“You’re anxious. I can tell. You’ve been picking at the rips in your pants,” Kiki said, pointing to her hand at her leg. She pulled away, not even having realized that she was doing that.  
Kiki then took the empty can from her and threw it out along with her chip bag, now empty.

“I take it that’s also why you got the energy drink. What are you so anxious about?”

Rosetta sighed. “My birthday,” she admitted.

“Do we have too much planned? Are you nervous for the museum with Ellie?” she asked, concerned, stopping them in the hallway and pulling them aside so they were out of the way.  
Rosetta shook her head. “No I just- I don’t want to be 18.”

“Why?”

“Everyone says it’s not much different but then I’m legally an adult and I’m scared of that. It means I have more responsibility that I don’t want and as much as I just want to move away, I don’t really want to grow up and be an adult. That and like… creepy men can now legally hit on me.”

Both of them shivered and made a face of disgust.

“Look, I get that turning 18 can be scary but we still have time. We have a whole life ahead of us and this is only a small portion of it. We have our plans and we’re doing everything we can to make sure they are put into action properly. Also if some creep is hitting on you I’ll come out swinging with a baseball bat but it doesn’t happen as often as you think. Not anymore at least.”  
“What happens if I get creeped on and my plans don’t fall through?” Rosetta asked.

“Well then I get my baseball bat and we come back here for a bit to be with our family.”

“Kiki once I’m gone… I don’t want to come back.”

Kiki took her hand and squeezed it. “Then you don’t have to. We’ll figure it out. I promise we will.”

The bell rang and both of them laughed.

“We should probably get to class before we get in too much trouble,” Rosetta said, noting the warning bell.

“Race you to class!” She said, then dashing off.

“Cheater!” Rosetta giggled, running after her before they were late to class.

Luckily they got there just on time, taking their seats in the back while they giggled.

Rosetta paid little attention to what was going on. Mostly in class when you were an upperclassman and in a high level of a course, you were given material and had to be self sufficient. It wasn’t a problem though as Rosetta would work on music with Kiki and Beck during classes, hashing out ideas. They even did it out of class and in their free time.

They did it nearly every day and had another session planned for later that night, reserving one of the music rooms before dinner.

After classes Rosetta did her homework and worked on a video before she went to the music room they had reserved with Kiki and Beck. All of them had gathered up the instruments they could carry around with ease and went to the music room across campus.

Beck laid down on the stage of the room playing his guitar while Kiki sat at the bench of a keyboard, playing it idly. Rosetta on the other hand was arranging a bunch of music stands in front of one of the plastic chairs. She had them set up so the back part of the music stands was laying horizontally, all of the stands together making a board like shape.

She very obviously was not doing any of what they intended to do as often they always goofed around for a bit before any work got done.

Rosetta chucked a crumpled up piece of music sheet at Beck. He popped up, stopping his guitar music.

“What?” He asked.

“Record,” she said, tossing her phone to him. He snatched it from the air and turned on the camera, giving her a thumbs up.

Rosetta stood up on the chair and then carefully lowered herself onto the music stands. It worked, her weight distributed evenly across the stands to make them stay flat.

“Oh wow I didn’t think that’d work,” Kiki laughed as she looked up from the piano. Beck and Rosetta were cheering.

Then Rosetta crashed onto the ground. She hit the carpet with a thump, the stands falling on top of her. She was laughing too hard to care.

“Etta!” Kiki burst out laughing. “Are you okay?”

She gave them a thumbs up. “All good guys. Don’t worry.”

She then got up, pushing the music stands off her and brushing herself off. She was in a little pain and there would probably be some bruises the next day but she didn’t mind all that much.  
“You looked so stupid when you fell,” Beck snorted, shoving her playfully as she got up and took back her phone.

“Shut up. You look stupid all the time. You look like Rodrick Heffley,” Rosetta said. She saved the video to her phone. She would probably post it on TikTok later like she did with a lot of videos her friend group had sent her.

“Wow! Okay damn! Didn’t realize I was going to get attacked like that!” Beck said with mock outrage.

“You do dress like Rodrick Heffley from the movies. The good Rodrick not the bad one,” Kiki admitted.

“It’s the eyeliner and long hair isn’t it?” Beck asked.

Rosetta and Kiki nodded. He always wore jeans with a t-shirt and a flannel over top which a lot of people also wore. However he also always had on eyeliner, just rimming his eyes and not winged out, along with his shoulder-length hair in disarray even though he brushed it every day. Him being a drummer in a band also didn’t help.

“I’m changing your contact in my phone to Rodrick Rules now,” Kiki said, taking out her phone.

“I hate both of you so much right now.”

“You love us and you know it,” Rosetta said as she placed herself at a drum set.

Rosetta actually loved to play the drums. They were just a fun instrument and one that was great to go batshit crazy on. It was why it was Beck’s favorite instrument.

“RJ give me a beat,” Beck said, turning up the volume on an amp for his guitar.

Rosetta started off with quarter beats before she started changing it up, making the rhythm more complex as they went along, watching as Beck kept up. Kiki joined in too, plugging in a guitar and seeing who could match up with Rosetta’s drumming best, both with keeping rhythm and with playing something generally pleasing on guitar.

They kept going and going until Beck’s pick cut through the strings of his guitar. Rosetta stopped and they laughed, a little stunned.

“I think this means I win,” Kiki said, grabbing some of the fabric of her hijab and throwing it over her shoulder as if she was flipping her hair.

“That’s not fair,” Beck said as he grabbed a pack of strings out of his backpack so he could restring it. He took off the old strings and gave them to Rosetta to pocket for whatever art project she’d attempt next.

“It is totally fair. Besides, we better get heading to dinner before we miss it and I’m sure everyone will agree with me,” Kiki said as she gathered up her things and put them in her endless backpack. 

“No they won’t,” Beck argued.

“Whatever,” Kiki said as she opened the door. “If not then they will at least agree that you’re being a sore loser.”

She left and Beck ran after her.

“Stop this slander!” He yelled as he left the room. 

Rosetta took her things and left as well and down the hall she watched as Beck and Kiki shoved each other playfully.


	24. Hypothetically Rosetta is Now an Adult

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosetta celebrates her 18th birthday while Beck gets her ready for her secret date with Ellie.

The week flew by and eventually, it was Saturday morning.

Rosetta was woken up not by Pudge like normally, but by Beck blowing a little party horn, the paper jutting out and hitting her face as he put air in it. He had on a little cone party hat and put a paper crown on her head before she could even process what was happening. She also noticed that he had made a party hat for Pudge who was wrestling with the elastic string to get it off.

“What?” Rosetta mumbled as she sat up, rubbing her eyes. Beck just crashed into her with a hug.

“You’re finally 18!” He cheered. 

“Oh. Right,” Rosetta said, reminding herself that it was January 28th, her birthday as if it wasn’t the same date for her birthday every year.

It didn’t really feel like everything. It wasn’t as scary as she thought it would be but it was like all emotion around it was gone. It just didn’t matter to her. Besides, what she was really afraid of was still coming.

She then got out of bed, grabbing her water bottle across her bedroom so she could take her medicine. She swallowed the pill and then freed Pudge of the party hat as Beck put the party blower in the pocket of his sweatpants.

“By the way do my parents know you’re here or did you legitimately break into my room through my window at 9 am to wake me up?” Rosetta asked.

“I just went through the window. I mean it’s not like anyone would be surprised to find me here.”

Rosetta grabbed the spray bottle of water on her vanity that she used on her hair and spritz him with it. 

“Creep,” she snorted as he laughed but she didn’t mind him coming at all. Whenever she was home she left the window unlocked for him.

“Oh my stars I forgot to tell you!” Beck exclaimed, wiping water off his face. “My mom asked me the other night if we were dating.”

Rosetta burst out laughing, clutching her stomach as she wheezed, paper crown falling off her head. It was even funnier to her because not only was she gay and had zero attraction to Beck whatsoever, but she had made out with Kayla several times and that was Beck’s sister. Abby had no idea how wrong she could have possible been. However, the absolute best part was that a bit after Rosetta started dating Kayla, when she was first discovering her sexuality as a sophomore, Beck had asked her out and she had to look him in the eye and tell him that she was a lesbian and had been making out with his sister.

It had been awkward for a moment but then became funny, Beck supporting both of them and also being mad at Kayla because he told her about his crush on Rosetta and she had told him to go for it.

“Christ that’s rich! Whose going to tell her?” She cackled.

“I want to see how long it’ll take for her to figure out on her own. I think we should let Kayla take the lead on this one.”

“Agreed." 

Rosetta then spritzed him again with the water and he grabbed a pillow off her bed and hit her with it, turning it into an all out war. The two of them ran around her room laughing as they fought each other. After a bit both of them were panting and frozen in place, a stand off.

"Put the water down Rosetta Jude,” Beck warned, raising the pillow up as threateningly as he could make it.

“Like I’d ever do that Beck Logan,” Rosetta snorted, holding the spray bottle in front of her with both hands, aiming directly at him. “I won’t hesitate bitch!”

That just made him laugh which was all the distraction she needed. She sprayed him with the water with rapid fire and he held up the pillow to shield himself.

They were so wrapped up in their little battle that they didn’t even notice Adrian and Nova standing in the doorway wondering what they were even witnessing.

“So is Beck joining us for breakfast?” Nova yawned, neither of Rosetta’s parents really questioning how Beck even got into the house.

Beck and Rosetta looked at each other and he nodded.

“Yup!” Rosetta said, answering Nova’s question. “We are a package deal!” She said proudly, then grunting when Beck hit her over the head with the pillow once more. 

Both her parents laughed and before Rosetta could retaliate they pulled her over to them. She knew what was coming. There were two things in the household that were birthday traditions. The first was chocolate chips pancakes for breakfast and the second was a kiss for every year you were born. When it started she wasn’t sure but the second they saw her for her birthday, or as close to her birthday as possible due to her being at school on her birthday for the past few years, she got kisses from them.

Rosetta, as she had predicted, was given kisses by both her parents. 18 from both of them.

“Happy birthday sweetheart,” Adrian told her, giving her a hug and yet another kiss. Maybe an extra for luck as sometimes that’s what she got too.

“I can’t believe you’re 18,” Nova said, both her parents fawning over her.

“Mom, Dad, I need you to let me go so I can spray Beck with water,” she said, trying to get out of their hold so she could soak her best friend.

“No no no no no. You guys keep doing what you’re doing,” Beck said, slowly reaching for the spray bottle in Rosetta’s hand.

She yanked it back before he could, finally being released from her parents hold.

“Don’t think I didn’t know what you were going to do dumbass,” Rosetta said, spraying him once more as her parents left them, the fight continuing on.

They continued on for a bit more before they came to a halt, Rosetta out of water and Beck not wanting to carry around a now wet pillow. He laid it in front of the window to dry.

“Oh I haven’t put up my nurse’s slip from Monday up yet or the one from right before break,” Rosetta said, digging through her backpack to find the folder where she had put them.

“Are you seriously more excited about that then your 18th birthday?” Beck asked, taking off the cone hat and setting it aside.

“Have you met me?”

She found them and then grabbed the wall-safe putty she used to hang things up, tearing off four very small pieces for each slip. She put them on the wall and slapped at the edges to make sure they stuck.

After that the two of them went downstairs and took their seats at the table. Rosetta’s parents were making chocolate chip pancakes as they always did for her birthday. When she was little her mom used to get up very early, since Rosetta would always be the first one up in the house, and she would have Rosetta help, setting her on the counter so she could drop the chocolate chips into the pancakes on the pan. Of course, Rosetta would always sneak a few though she wasn’t very subtle. Her mom would only smile and take some herself, Rosetta sometimes shoving them in her mom’s mouth too.

She could only dream that she was that little again with no worries and only having fun and always having her parents attention and affection. When you were little you could get away with a lot and everything was a good accomplishment, especially with oxygen tubes. But now Rosetta was 18 and she had responsibilities. Ones that she didn’t want.

Rosetta may have been eager to leave her home and move out and yet at the same time, she was absolutely terrified of it. It was like jumping off a building and hoping that there was a safety net beneath you or you at least suddenly had the ability to fly. And she wanted to be far from her family, never having to come back. There was no room for error.

As Eva came down from downstairs, Valerie came through the front door. Eva sat at the table, rubbing her eyes. She was still tired but had smelled the food. After Valerie had put her things in her room, she joined them at the table.

“First of all happy 18th Setta and second of all when did Beck get here?” Valerie asked.

“I’ve been here for like an hour,” Beck said.

“Not even surprised,” Eva mumbled. “You two are always together. Are you two dating or something because you sure act like it?”

Beck and Rosetta burst out laughing and Valerie choked on her water. That made two times people had thought that and Rosetta really wished that she could just yell out that she was actually dating Ellie but that wasn’t ideal. Regardless, the two of them found it hilarious and could barely stop laughing. It was one thing to hear about someone wondering if you were dating a person but another thing to be asked about it.

Rosetta turned to Beck. “If I were to ever ask you out or have feelings for you, kill me instantly because that means it’s not actually me, it’s my evil clone.”

“Oh for sure,” Beck snorted. “But if you had an evil clone I’d figure it out way before it would come to that.”

“Good. I expected nothing less.”

They high-fived.

“Or maybe I’m wrong,” Eva said.

“Yeah no shit,” Rosetta said, flicking her.

Any argument that was about to happen was interrupted by food, pancakes being set on the table. Since it was her birthday, Rosetta got to get hers first and she used her authority to get Beck the second best ones. They were a package deal after all.

Beck and Rosetta talked just between themselves while they ate. It was their normal routine to have wild conversations whenever they were together. She was probably talking way more then her family had ever seen, but then again everyone knew that Beck and Ellie, and almost all her friends normally, were the few people that could get her to have a long conversation with them. Not even Evie, Max, Danna and Narcissa could coax a conversation out of her some days. She had never been a talkative person unless you got her going on one of the subjects she hyper-fixated on and most people in her family didn’t want to hear 3 hour rants on the cello, though her family did their best to hide it and be supportive of her interests despite not understanding it at all. But despite their best efforts to hide it, she still could tell that her rants weren’t enjoyed.

It wasn’t that she never talked with her family either, it was just that her conversations were never as long or as good as with her friends. Rosetta was also a lot less expressional in the conversations with her family too, spare her uncle Max. She just always had vastly different interests and would rather rant about a book she read then talk about school which wasn’t something people wanted to hear. A lot of funny things happened at school but she was terrible at telling stories. If she did add to an already existing conversation, because of the way her brain jumped around to topic after topic, it was random to them but made sense to her, it just confused them and it wasn’t a reference they would understand so they would just move past it and leave her feeling embarrassed so very rarely did she speak up any more.

They still tried to understand and tried to not just gloss over her but it was all nonsense to them. Her parents were actually decent at it. Her mom had ADHD too and could sometimes be like Rosetta where she said random things that made sense to her but no one else because it connected to the topic at hand in some way in her mind. Her dad had grown used to it with Nova and had always found it endearing so he never really minded all that much and found it humorous.

The downside was that it only made other people think it was funny for different reasons, laughing at her for it and not thinking her comments were funny. And Rosetta’s mom just got a free pass since she was… well…. Mom. Adrian never minded and to Valerie and Eva that was just the way their mom was so they were used to it. She was their mom so it was alright.

But that wasn’t Rosetta’s situation. She was always the odd one out no matter what and anything else that set her apart just got her sympathetic smiles and her parents doing their best to not act like her rants weren’t a nuisance, it still wasn’t enough. She still knew. She still felt like they were. If they weren’t a nuisance then they would engage with her and not just sit silently.

And even as Beck and her talked, half their conversation was done through sign language since Rosetta still wasn’t a big fan of speaking in front of anyone outside her friend group. All of her friends and her learned sign language so they could talk to her without causing a class disruption or talk to her while still allowing for her to be comfortable in her silence. Usually when Rosetta had to talk in class a lot her friends would sign her encouraging words or when she was about to have one of her meltdowns from being overwhelmed they would use ASL to communicate with her and help figure out the problem without having her feel embarrassed about it because other classmates would hear.

It also greatly helped her reduce her embarrassment over her hand motions from stimming. Whenever she had to speak in front of the class she would do it subconsciously to help calm her nerves only to feel ashamed of it because no one knew why she was making so many repetitive little hand movements while she spoke. So when her friends learned sign language they would sign her encouraging words while she talked or helped her find the word she was looking for to better understand her point under the guise that they were stimming with her so she didn’t feel as upset over it.

It was one of the sweetest things her friends had ever done for her and it was awfully helpful whenever one of them wanted to shit talk Jack in class while he spoke.

Eventually they finished up, then going back to Rosetta’s room to plan for her date with Ellie. It was their first official one since they had gotten back together and Rosetta wanted to look her best which meant she was going to need Beck’s help.

Rosetta held up two shirts.

“Purple or red?” She asked. 

They were very different, both only having in common that they were long-sleeves as it was winter. The pale purple one had long ago been dubbed “The Pirate Shirt” as it was a frilly blouse with puffed sleeves. The red one was more of a plain, warm turtle neck that was a little tight but she liked them both.

“Why those shirts?” Beck asked.

“I don’t know. I just…. I never wear these shirts but I like both of them and wanted to go outside my comfort zone a little. I mean I want to look nice it’s our first date and all and-”

“Etta relax,” Beck said, taking the shirts from her. He then hung them both up. “Ellie likes you a lot and already is used to your impeccable taste in fashion. Just wear something that suits you but is a little jazzed up.”

He then dug through her closet and pulled out one of her many button-ups, this one white with cow print along with a black skirt and red fishnets. He also found a red coat with a blazer like shoulders that she had and of course, found her platform boots in the closet.

“I think that will look cute,” Beck said, proud of himself for picking out a nice outfit for her. “It’ll match the red hat you always wear and I’m sure you have jewelry to match.”

“That’s fair. I have a nose ring in like every shade imaginable,” she laughed.

“Oh my god you should do the red drippy eyeliner!” He exclaimed.  
“Beck you are a genius!” Rosetta said, high-fiving him.

She immediately got to work. For as good as her skills in eyeliner were, makeup still took time and family would be calling her all day so she would have to get her jump start now.

However, Beck couldn’t stay much longer, having to go leave to pick something up. So while he did whatever he had to do until they met up at the restaurant later that night, Rosetta got ready among other things. She took all the calls and told them what they wanted to hear, too focused on her date with Ellie to really comprehend what she was being told. It’s not like she had anything new to tell them. Her birthday was so close to Christmas and the holidays that she would have filled them in on everything already.

But eventually, finally, Ellie was knocking on the door and it was time to go to the museum.


	25. I Scream! You Scream! We All Scream Because We're Cheering on WLW!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie and Rosetta have their secret date like they deserve!

When Ellie came to get Rosetta, she looked radiant. She had on a simple, long-sleeve green dress that was edged with lace. It fell to her knees and beneath it were stockings and black booties. At her hip was a clamshell shaped purse, little pearl earrings and a necklace on with her blue wool coat, matching gloves on. Her hair whipped around in the wind a little as red started to blossom in her cheeks and nose from the cold.

“You’re an adult!” She said happily.

“I know,” Rosetta laughed, enjoying Ellie’s enthusiasm. She then took the bag Ellie had brought, clothes and other things for spending the night at Rosetta’s, and put it in her room, grabbing her boots and coat and putting them on before they went to leave.

“I’m going to the museum with Ellie! I’ll be back later!” Rosetta said as she started to pull the door shut behind her.

“Okay sweetie. Have fun,” Adrian called back as they left for the train station.

Once Ellie and Rosetta were out of sight and in a little train car alone, Ellie gave Rosetta a quick kiss.

“Happy birthday babe!” She said happily, slipping her hand into Rosetta’s. She then rifled around for something in her bag and pulled out a little box with a bow on it, putting it on the little table in front of them.

“Ellie what’s this?” Rosetta asked.

“It’s your birthday gift obviously. Open it.”

She seemed excited for Rosetta to see what was inside and in all honesty, Rosetta would probably enjoy Ellie’s expressions more then anything, even if she didn’t like receiving gifts. She was too cute.

Rosetta took off the lid and gasped at what was inside. It was a velvet choker with a large pendant dangling from the center. In the velvet, violets and ivy leaves were stitched. Inside the pendant itself were red chrysanthemums, camellias, amaryllis, gardenias, and some yarrow surrounding an orange. It was a beautiful mix of flowers and incredibly well made. She knew Ellie had crafted it herself.

“Ellie this is beautiful,” Rosetta said, stunned. “How long have you been working on this?”

“Since last year. I knew I wanted to do something special for your 18th birthday. Do you like it?”

“I love it. Thank you.” She kissed Ellie gently. “Are you going to tell me what these flowers mean?”

Rosetta was well aware that Ellie had a decent amount of knowledge on the language of flowers. It was perfectly in reason to suspect that there was some sort of meaning to the ones she chose and while she knew what the violets meant, that represented Sapphic love as historically women would send other women they liked violets, she wasn’t sure what the rest of the flowers meant or why the ivy was there. 

If it was a straight up, obvious declaration of love Rosetta would have figured that there’d be red roses everywhere but then again, they were trying to be subtle with their relationship. Unfortunately that meant Rosetta had no idea what any of the flowers meant. Maybe Narcissa or Danna would but if Ellie didn’t tell her she was clueless. She wasn’t very knowledgeable on flowers but her aunts had a little flower garden on the terrace of their apartment.

Ellie shook her head grinning. “Nope. But when you figure it out you come tell me.”

Rosetta grinned as she clipped it on. “At least it matches what I’m wearing.”

Most of the flowers on the necklace were shades of red or pink and some others were white and a few were yellow and of course, the violets and ivy were purple and green, but mostly it matched what she had on.

“That wasn’t planned. However, what I did plan was something else to do after the Museum of Ice Cream,” Ellie said, bopping Rosetta’s nose gently with her pointer finger.

Rosetta laughed. “Of course there’s a surprise for me at the end.”

Ellie loved surprising people to the point where it was predictable that there was going to be a surprise but over the years she had gotten better at shaking it up so the surprise was more of a surprise. Still, Rosetta had no idea what her girlfriend had in store.

Ellie elbowed her playfully. “Shut up. You’re going to love it.”

“I trust you,” Rosetta said as the train stopped and they got off, hand in hand. 

They gave the woman at the entrance their tickets and went inside. There were 3 stories and many rooms, all of them in varying shades of pink. There were different places to take photos and ice cream shaped swings, a cookie carousel, and even a sprinkles pool. 

There was so much to do with so many mesmerizing rooms and places. It wasn’t exactly educational but it was fun, Ellie and Rosetta going through the rooms taking pictures and admitting everything. They went on the carousel and pushed each other on the swings. The two girls hopped and climbed on giant popsicles, messing around like all the other visitors.

However, there was an actual indoor playground, ice cream and food themed. They went into a bouncy castle after that, jumping around and laughing. The two of them went down a slide and even ran through a room filled with fake bananas. 

It was the weirdest, most exciting and fun place Rosetta had ever been to and she was glad Ellie had decided to take them here. Still, the feeling that she was being watched was back and when she looked around, no one she had seen before was there.

Once again, she waved it off as just herself being a little stressed.

Lastly they came upon an all white room where the walls were magnetic. Baby pink magnets that were letters and different shapes covered the walls. People were writing things out with them and taking photos and several couples were making hearts around each other and taking photos in it.

Rosetta spotted two women laughing as they made a heart together and it gave her some courage. No one was paying them much attention or seemed to care which meant that it was safe for Ellie and her. They could finally get some good photos of them together and be able to show that they were together without having to hide it or ask for help from friends to do so.

It was a relief.

Rosetta knelt down and started making a giant heart around Ellie, big enough to fit both of them.

“Ro what are you doing?” Ellie laughed, watching as she quickly gathered magnets, possibly spawning some into place using her powers.

“Just be patient,” Rosetta said as she put more tiles into place. Ellie stepped back and caught on quickly. As Rosetta finished the heart, Ellie had approached the two women in the room that had made the first heart and asked them to take a picture ofRosetta and her.

The couple seemed more than delighted to help them, sharing a look as they bunched together, Ellie and Rosetta kissing within the heart.

They handed Ellie back her phone and left, Rosetta and Ellie a little giddy about their first time being able to kiss in public.

It was such a weird situation. She could be openly gay in her music and in some public spaces, but she couldn’t be gay at home or at school where it should have been safe for her. It was insane that the person she was scared of was more likely to find out from a random magazine or newspaper then on the internet.

At the end of their time at the museum, they finished off with icecream of course. They had a bunch of weird flavors and options but Rosetta knew what she wanted as they had her favorite.  
Raspberry chocolate chunk ice cream on a waffle cone would always be Rosetta’s favorite. Ellie however got lemon poppy seed ice cream on a cake cone. It was something neither of them had ever had before.

“Babe can I try yours?” Rosetta asked as they sat down to eat.

“Sure but only if I can have some of your ice cream,” Ellie said. They then swapped cones and tried the others before switching back.

Both of them had had the raspberry ice cream before as while it wasn’t at every ice cream place there were enough interesting ice cream shops and brands sold at the stores that they had both had it. Obviously the one served at the museum was one of the better ones she had but the lemon poppy seed, something completely new, was also great. She saw why Ellie got it but she still liked hers better.

“Alright we have one last place to go and you’re going to love it,” Ellie said, wiping off her hands and mouth with a diaper wipe she got from the pack in her bag. She handed Rosetta one too.  
“Where is it?” Rosetta asked as she cleaned up and threw out the wipes and all their trash in a nearby trash can.

“You can figure that out when we get there,” her girlfriend said smugly. 

The two of them left and Ellie took Rosetta to another museum.

“Oh another museum! Can we go check out the dinosaur exhibits?” Rosetta asked excitedly. She was a small history nerd and loved learning about the interesting things that happened in the past. Since it didn’t affect her, it was all rather funny.

“Of course we can do that but I want to take you to my favorite spot first. They just added it last year,” Ellie said, guiding her through the elaborately constructed museum, complete with marble and stone and murals all over the ceiling.

It had been a while since Rosetta had last come to the museum and she should have come far more often then she did. The last time she had come they had just opened the exhibit on the Aztec Empire.

But this was far better then any of that. It was an exhibit on wildlife and at the end, where Ellie brought Rosetta, was a glass room just off of the greenhouse that was filled with plants and butterflies. The sun shined down on the mosaic of a flower on the floor and their shoes clicked on the tiles of it. Butterflies of all kinds fluttered around gently and the perfume of plants and flowers filled the warm air.

“Do you like it?” Ellie asked eagerly, hands clasping over Rosetta’s. Her eyes were so bright and she looked so excited about it. Obviously it was gorgeous but even if Rosetta didn’t like it she wouldn’t have told Ellie that. She’d much rather see her be happy.

“It’s incredible,” Rosetta said. She then looked around, seeing the room was empty, and kissed Ellie quickly, making her giggle.

She pulled away, hands still cupping Ellie’s face, as a large blue butterfly landed on her nose. Ellie laughed and took a picture, Rosetta doing her best to not scare it off.

“You look cute,” Ellie said.

Rosetta smiled and then, despite her best efforts, the butterfly left her face. However, it only went on Ellie’s head and that made for a good picture. She was so damn cute.

They walked around for a little while more, admiring everything the museum had to offer before they went to the restaurant. She had no idea where the place they had chosen even was, letting all of it be a mystery so they could have their fun surprising her.

But as they walked along and Rosetta recognized more and more of the buildings, she knew exactly where they were going. They were probably going to Jupiter’s House, a restaurant on the 13th floor in the Market Complex.

In the market area of Gatlon, there was a giant building filled up with shops and restaurants called the Market Complex. You could find anything in the building. Rosetta had come many times before, both with family and friends. There was a music shop on the ninth floor that she went to in order to get more supplies and it’s where she had gotten her most recent cello.

But Jupiter’s House was a restaurant in it that her and her friends had discovered. It was newer and not many people knew about it, the restaurant being buried in the back of the floor. She could also see how people would be weirded out or scared by it. The place was very lively but didn’t exactly look like a normal restaurant. It was quite eccentric which made it all the better to Rosetta.  
As she predicted, Ellie took her to the back of the 13th floor of the Market Complex, right to Jupiter’s House.

Outside the restaurant was a big blue sign with neon yellow writing that had the name of the restaurant, an image of Jupiter on it behind the wording. Ellie pushed back the curtain and they went inside. The curtain was the entrance which probably only made it sketchy to many people but Rosetta liked it.

Inside it was dark with neon lights and plants everywhere. Signs and glassware covered the walls and shelves. Paper cranes and butterflies dangled from the ceilings. Everything was art and the scent of good food and the sound of indie rock filled her body.

Ellie led her to a table by a giant window where all her friends were crowded.

Lana blew a party horn. “Happy 18th!” She cheered.

Rosetta laughed. She had a feeling that dinner was going to be very fun.


	26. Let Me See What You Have! A KNIFE! NO!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosetta has fun with family and friends to celebrate her now being an adult.

After food was ordered and all was settled, it was time to get drinks other then the glasses of water they were given.

“Come on. Let’s go get drinks,” Lana said, grabbing Rosetta’s hand and pulling her to the back of the restaurant, the others following along.

The drink station was very unique, like everything else in the restaurant. You could grab a random drink of choice from the racks, which they had a vast and interesting array of, or you could take one of the clear glass bottles with a blank label and make your own soda. They had a range of different flavored syrups and different amounts of carbonation, instructions posed on the dispenser where you got carbonated water.

At this point, Rosetta knew exactly what she wanted. She had tried all sorts of the weird sodas and drinks provided but had created a soda that she liked best. 

She grabbed a bottle and got started, putting normal water and carbonated water into the glass bottle and then going to the pumps to add in flavors. She added in a few pumps of lemon, some vanilla, and then some blue raspberry. It wasn’t an everyday drink but she absolutely loved it, the soda becoming a pale green. It was her favorite soda and in her favorite color too.

Rosetta grabbed a cap and used a machine to press it on. She wrote “Crayon Juice”, the name she and her friends had come up for the drink, on the label and flipped it upside down so all the flavors mixed, taking it back to the table.

In the meantime, Beck was gushing about the soda station at the table. 

“Okay hands down that’s the coolest thing. We need this at GATA!”

“Like in the lunch room or in the culinary center?” Meg asked, popping the lid off her soda and popping in a looped, purple straw. Purple was her favorite color after all. Unlike the others, she had gotten a premade soda. It was orange creamsicle flavored and one that Rosetta had before. It was good but not Rosetta’s favorite.

“I think it would have to be in the lunchroom so everyone wouldn’t be rushing to the culinary center for it,” Ellie said, taking a sip of her drink. Her soda was one she had made. It was bright pink with dragon-fruit, lychee, and cream. She had dubbed it “Pink Drink” on the label. It was right up Ellie’s alley being two of her favorite things; pink and sweet.

“No it should be in the culinary building so all the students in the cafeteria aren’t blocking up the line. If it’s in the culinary center then it can be more regulated so people aren’t fighting over their turn to use it,” Beck defended.

Before the debate furthered, food came. Rosetta had gotten Piri Piri chicken. They had all sorts of foods from different countries and places around the world and you could mix and all you like. She wasn’t sure how authentic it was but it was good food regardless.

Rosetta shifted everything on the table around.

“Etta what are you doing?” Kiki asked, noticing the way she laid her food and drink out, being quite spaced out.

“I feel bad for covering the table,” she said. “It’s so pretty.”

The table was made up out of 6 steel drums fused together, a mosaic of a woman on the drum that Rosetta had taken. Each drum had a different mosaic made of broken pieces of tile and yet they all somehow blended together.

Kiki laughed. “Of course you do.”

She gave them a shrug as they thanked the waiter and dug into their food. Everyone seemed content and who wouldn’t be? The restaurant had great music and an incredibly insane interior. The food was delicious and the drinks were fun. It was in one of the most popular buildings in all of Gatlon, their table having a great view over the vast city, and yet the restaurant wasn’t very well known to many. It was a perfect little spot of heaven and one Rosetta did not intend to give up.

“Oh,” Beck said suddenly, making a face signaling that he just remembered something. “This is off topic but Dawn and I are all cool now. We met up this afternoon to talk about what happened and there’s a mutual hate of our father between us.”

They all cheered.

“Hell yeah!” Rosetta whooped. Dawn seemed like a cool person and she wanted Beck to be happy and content with his family. A new sibling could be a lot and she was glad that it was going well for both of them. Also she hated Beck’s dad and was glad that there were more people joining their team for it.

“Also she helped me get this for you,” Beck said, pulling out a gift box and handing it to Rosetta.

“You guys know you don’t have to get me anything,” Rosetta reminded. She wasn’t a person who was big on gifts.

“Yeah but we’ve all elected to ignore that,” Meg said, all of them taking out gifts. 

Rosetta hid her face in her hands from embarrassment but Ellie peeled them off her face and instead placed the box Beck was trying to give her into them. She seemed to know what was in it and Beck seemed excited for her to open it since he was now recording.

Rosetta took off the lid and gasped.

“What’s that?” Kiki asked.

“A dagger!” She said excitedly, pulling it out of the box and taking off the sheath to reveal the blade itself.

It was absolutely stunning. The blade was just steel, sharp and angular. However, like the rest of the knife, it was carved with psychedelic art pieces. Eyes and mushrooms and swirls covered the entire thing. The handle, like the sheath, was golden, the eyes and spots of the mushroom studded with gems.

“You got her a knife!” Kiki hissed.

“Oh it’s so fucking cool,” Rosetta fawned over it. She had no need for a dagger but she sure as hell liked them.

“Oh my stars why would you let her have a knife?” Meg said, looking at Beck like he was insane.

“She’s not going to hurt anyone with it,” Ellie said, rolling her eyes. “Have you met her? She wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Out of their friends, Rosetta was the least likely to physically hurt anyone. It might have been a different case when she was younger but after all the trouble in middle school, over things that weren’t even her fault, she wasn’t risking it ever again. She wasn’t even sure why Meg was worried when Meg was the one who would hurt someone without a blink of an eye.

Rosetta sheathed the dagger, placed it in the box, and then put it away in her backpack.

The rest of the gifts were relatively small and Rosetta was grateful for that. They were little things that she liked such as a few more black lip glosses or some new jewelry for her piercings. Rosetta and her friends loved to spoil each other and despite how none of them liked being spoiled, they did it anyway, finding the fine line to give good gifts without it being too much or overwhelming to accept.

The rest of the night was fun. They had sat down to eat at only 4, finishing an hour and a half later but by then it was pitch black outside. Outside the big window, Rosetta could see the whole city twinkling like the stars in the sky. Lights were everywhere and cars whizzed by below, the streets still crowded with people.

When the time came for her to leave, as scary as it was to her, she’d miss this place. She’d miss Gatlon a lot because despite everything, it was still her home.

After food, the seven of them went and roamed the Market Complex. Immediately, Rosetta went to her favorite music shop first, Beck and Kiki close in tail as they liked the place as well.

Mona’s Music wasn’t a chain music store and had a lot to offer. There were all sorts of instruments available to buy and test as well as things to keep them in good condition. There were also bins of old records, CDs, and cassettes that you could buy, getting a bunch for real cheap. Rosetta had a CD player and a bunch of CDs so every now and then she would come and get a bunch, mostly getting from artists she had never heard of. A lot of the CDs were very old anyways but it had allowed her to discover some great music.

Aside from CDs, she would also get records and cassette tapes even though she had nothing to play them on. Instead she used them for decoration. She would put records and CDs she didn’t like up on her walls and then tape the cassette tapes onto her ceiling, pulling out the roll of tape as much as she liked to make it dangle down.

But there was nothing that caught her interest though Kiki got a few records that she actually liked the artist of.

They then went to a thrift store of Beck’s choice.

“There’s someone I want you to meet,” Beck said, taking them to the counter. 

At the register was a girl who looked similar to Beck, having the same lip shape and high cheekbones with pale blue eyes. But she had pale blonde hair compared to Beck’s black.

“This is Dawn,” Beck said proudly, high-fiving her. “My baby sister.”

Dawn rolled her eyes. “I’m younger by a month,” she snorted. She then gestured to the rest of them. “Who’s who?”

Beck then pointed at each of them and gave her a name.

“It’s so nice to meet you,” Kiki said warmly. All of them were more then happy to meet her but while Beck and Dawn talked, as there weren’t many customers in the store, the rest of them looked around.

As she looked through the racks, Rosetta found a flannel that she thought Beck might like. She brought it over to him.

“Hey look what I found,” she said, holding up the pink and blue flannel.

“Oh it’s dope.”

“Yeah it reminded me of you,” Rosetta said brightly.

Dawn cocked her head. “Are you two dating?" 

Instead of laughing, both Beck and Rosetta sighed. That made three times.

"No. We aren’t dating,” Rosetta said.

“We aren’t?” Beck joked.

“BeLo we’ve been over this. I’m a lesbian,” Rosetta snorted.

“Oh good,” Dawn said. “In that case can I go on a date with you?”

Her cheeks were all read and she looked nervous and Rosetta could feel herself growing embarrassed, Beck laughing with his head on the counter.

“Sorry but also no,” Rosetta said. She then pointed to Ellie who was trying on hats with Meg. “That’s actually my girlfriend over there in the blue coat.”

“Oh my stars I’m so sorry I didn’t man to-”

“No you’re cool. That makes three Adams siblings who have asked me out,” Rosetta laughed.

“Wait, three of us have asked you out? That’s half of my dad’s children,” Dawn said, stunned.

Beck nodded. “I’ve asked her out, you’ve asked her out, and Kayla asked her out but Kayla was the only one successful. However it lasted like two weeks.”

Dawn burst out laughing. Frankly it was ironic how much Beck and his siblings crushed on her. She wasn’t sure why but she had assumed with Kayla and Beck it was because they had grown up together. That was the case with Beck at least.

Rosetta then drifted off, joining Ellie and Meg to play with the hats. Ellie grabbed on from the bin. It was a beige color with a wide brim and a large, frilly white bow made of tulle. The brim flopped over her face so she couldn’t see. Meg had on another that was neon yellow with a bunch of scribbles of marker on it. The hat was something someone exploring a safari would wear based on its shape had it not been such boldly colored and designed.

Rosetta then plucked out her own from the pile. She got a cowboy hat that had a cow print on it.

“Wait, it matches your outfit!” Meg laughed.

“Oh shit she’s right!” Ellie giggled.

“Now I just need some cowboy boots,” Rosetta said. 

“Got you covered,” Lana said, coming over with cowboy boots meant for a baby. Rosetta ignored that they were far too small and took off her shoes and then put on the new boots. They just went a bit past her toes but regardless she walked around in them.

“It’s yeehaw time bitches!” Rosetta said, chasing them around as much as she could while she tried to keep on the little shoes.

“Wait this is like that one vine where the guy sees the little baby cowboy boots and it keeps going between his expression and then the boots until you just see him walking around with them just over his toes,” Meg wheezed.

“I both love that and hate that so much,” Rosetta said, changing back into her normal platforms.

“What did you all find?” Kiki sighed as she came back, seeing them put things back in their place.

“We unlocked Cowgirl Ro,” Ellie said.

“I don’t want to know.”

“It’s okay I got videos. I’ll send them to you,” Lana said.

“Oh stars.”

After a bit of time they finally left the Market Complex and started to head home. Only Beck stayed behind, going home with his sister. 

It wasn’t even late when Ellie and Rosetta came back to Rosetta’s house. It wasn’t even 8 yet. But they had chosen to come back early so they could have a bit more one on one time with each other. It was hard for them to get that since they had to purposely dodge it in order to keep things hidden.

“There’s the birthday girl,” Adrian laughed when they came in, putting some plates away. “So how was your museum trip?”

“It was fun,” Rosetta said.

“Didn’t exactly tell us much about the history of ice cream but definitely was very exciting,” Ellie said as they took off their shoes and coats.

“Also Beck got me a dagger so that’s pretty cool,” Rosetta said, grinning.

Her dad didn’t look alarmed at all. He just rolled his eyes. Rosetta was sure he either thought she was joking or wasn’t phased by it at all because Rosetta was a lot like Nova and that included their appreciation for daggers and knives.

“Okay sweetie,” he said nonchalantly, putting the last of the dishes away.

Ellie and Rosetta then went upstairs. They quickly changed into their pajamas and were about to kiss when there was a knock on the door. Rosetta opened it and saw Eva, holding up the box for a board game. Catan it was called.

“Do you and Ellie want to play?” Eva asked. “Mom, Dad, and Val are.”

Unbeknownst to many people, Rosetta actually loved board games and card games. When her and her friends had sleepovers, each time they played something. Rosetta hardly ever won as she never intended to win but she still had fun doing her own thing and messing with everyone.

Ellie and Rosetta looked at each other, both of them nodding in agreement.

“Sure.”

Ellie grinned, knowing exactly what Rosetta was intending to do during the board game.

Catan was a long game. It was a strategy game where everything was planned in order to win. Rosetta disregarded that completely and instead placed her settlements by ore, wheat, and sheep so she could just buy development cards over and over again. The second she had what she needed she would buy one.

She didn’t even play them half the time and instead just saved them so the others couldn’t have them and to keep them on edge about what she was going to do which was just cause trouble. She did not intend to win. She intended to be a problem.

But sometimes that meant Rosetta needed more then just collecting what she needed to buy development cards. She then proceeded to rob everyone for their lumber and bricks and play her monopoly card to collect even more of them. She also traded in some of her cards for them which wasn’t hard as she had a lot of the wheat which the other players needed to do most things.  
She then traded all the lumber and bricks for roads, then placing them so they blocked her dad’s movement, rendering him incapable of getting to the docks and letting her take the longest road card from Eva which kept her from winning.

“Oh that was a smart move,” Adrian complimented.

Rosetta nodded and Ellie tried to bite back a smile. Both of them knew she wasn’t actually paying attention to the game nor was she trying to win but the others didn’t need to know that. Rosetta never played games to win. She played to cause havoc and general fuckery in the game. She wasn’t even playing in favor of Ellie though if Ellie asked her to she would.

Rosetta looked at her hand. It was full with all she needed to get two more development cards. She then silently cashed it in, receiving a knight and a victory point instead. So far she had taken all of the victory points from the deck and then a bunch of knights. Some she had played, earning her the largest army card which was worth two points. It also allowed her to get what she wanted from other players to continue her cycle of buying more development cards to cause more problems. She mostly just robbed other players for the sake of it and since she didn’t actually care about the game she never minded when they robbed her back. They weren’t taking anything she couldn’t get back quickly.

“Maybe it was smart but it means I can now win,” Nova said, upgrading her last settlement to a city and getting ten points.

Nova never played to lose but Rosetta knew that she was going easy on Rosetta since it was her birthday. But her mom was far too good at strategy. Fortunately, you couldn’t use strategy against someone who had no plan and was doing everything at random. There was no pattern to Rosetta’s moves, only chaos. Her constantly buying development cards and robbing people, at face value, gave her only two points and no one knew what was hidden in her hand.

“Actually hold on a second,” Ellie interjected.

“Do you have ten points?” Eva asked.

Ellie shook her head. “No. Nowhere close but I don’t know what cards Rosetta has hidden and she has a lot of development cards that she hasn’t used. Every time you play a board or card game with her she completely forgets to check how many points she has so you have to check.”

Rosetta flipped them over, showing the two knights, and all five victory points. That along with the two she got from her cities, the two she got from the longest road, and the two from the largest army gave her 11 points.

“Yeah. Ro wins. She’s got 11 points,” Ellie laughed.

“How did you! What!” Valerie exclaimed, exasperated.

Rosetta shrugged. She really wasn’t sure either but she’d let them think she played the quiet game to hide what she was up to. Often times that was how she won games with her family, just being so quiet that they didn’t notice what she did and she accidentally won as she attempted to fuck everyone over.

“Winner has to clean up,” Eva said, sticking her tongue out.

“Actually the birthday girl doesn’t have to clean up but you can help,” Nova said, reaching out for pieces, laughing at Eva’s antics.

Ellie and Rosetta then went back to Rosetta’s room. Board games were fun, but they still both wanted more time alone. 

Ellie sat on the bed, grabbing Rosetta’s wrists and pulling her onto her lap.

“You need more birthday kisses,” she said, cupping Rosetta”s face.

“I completely agree,” Rosetta laughed, kissing Ellie. She would never get enough of it.

If only they didn’t have to hide their relationship. Things could be so simple once everything was out of the way. And they were so close. It just took a few more months and then they could have everything they wanted.

But a few months could feel like a lifetime with so much at stake.


	27. I Hate Gym Class And Here's Why

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some stuff happens at gym class leaving Rosetta and her friends very confused and concerned.

Rosetta was not a fan of gym class. No one was. But the state required it to happen in every school for the sake of physical activity for kids.

Rosetta was lucky that for the most part, students were allowed to do what they wanted. When it was hotter out, they were allowed to skateboard or roller-skate. They could go outside and do what they wanted so long as they changed.

But it wasn’t the warmer months. Instead it was the heart of winter and it was freezing out. Half the time in the winter kids just said they forgot their clothes because no one in the school liked doing gym. The only thing that made it fun for Rosetta was that she got moved to Beck’s gym class so they would stick to themselves and do their own thing.

Usually the gym teachers tried to do fun group activities meant for little kids like playing cops and robbers or sharks and minnows. It was a good idea based on the fact that every teenager was really a giant five year old given responsibilities but Beck wasn’t showing up for gym today because he had a doctor’s appointment.

It left Rosetta alone and she hated it, standing in the corner of the gym class with her arms folded while she waited for class to end so she could go change and then eat lunch with her friends.  
Even worse, Jack was in the other gym class. Each of the two gymnasiums held two or three classes at once and they kept it within the same grade levels but it sucked because there were all these students yet none she was friends with.

It’s not like she hated anyone but Jack and all the students were nice to her. Rosetta just didn’t know any of them too well. She could put names to faces and everyone knew who she was, but no one ever really talked to her and she never talked to them back. She was known as a shy but nice girl who looked emo and was fine with that label.

Rosetta wasn’t good in social situations. Oftentimes she just matched the expressions and actions of everyone else so she fit in more. It always took her a bit to find social cues and she struggled to relay what she said so it was easier to copy others. Either that or shutting up.

Some people did try to talk to her and she would give quiet responses to be polite, nodding her head and smiling, but most understood that she didn’t want to speak. However, some could never take the hint. Or at least refused to.

One of those people being Jack.

“We should hang out this weekend at my house. It’s close by,” he offered, throwing an arm over her shoulder like they were friends.

Rosetta was internally screaming. Going over to Jack’s house was a death wish in her mind. She didn’t trust him whatsoever and even if he did have good intentions and wanted to be friends she could never be friends with someone like him.

She jerked away, shrugging off his arm.

“No thank you,” she said quietly, mustering up all her courage to say it, not even able to force herself to make eye contact. Already she was bouncing her leg and tapping her fingers on her leg to bring her some sort of comfort.

“Oh come on. It’ll be fun. I mean we’ve known each other since the start of high school and have had classes with one another every year but we’ve never hung out.”

“I can’t,” Rosetta fibbed. “I only ever see my sister on Saturday because she’s at college and I’m here and I don’t want to miss her.”

It wasn’t a complete lie. She did only see her older sister on the weekends but of course there were several times where she was never around on the weekends and barely spent time with her siblings when she was at home anyways.

“So? What’s one time missing her?”

“I said no,” Rosetta said, taking a few steps back, eyes welling up with tears. “Isn’t that enough?”

“I don’t see why you have to be such an ass about it” Jack snapped, raising his voice and being pissed off.

Rosetta started crying, flapping her hands and jogging her leg. She was upset and it wasn’t even an act. She was allowed to have boundaries and him touching her when she hardly knew him made her extremely uncomfortable. She also handled people yelling at her or any sort of disapproval terribly.

Rosetta knew that to most people this would be considered overreacting but Rosetta wasn’t most people. She was always like this and she would have meltdowns over little things that somehow brought her immense stress. Usually they were things that overwhelmed her like different noises happening at once or having a bunch of textures on her that she didn’t like for too long. She also got them when she was really frustrated on something small and trivial which happened often in classes so she’d always ask to go to what the school called the “Relax Zone” or use one of her fidget toys that she had for her ADHD.

Most of the time Rosetta did her best to shove it down and hide it and she had been doing it for long enough that she could completely hide it. She knew someone would look at her weirdly for it and she had enough of that in her life.

But the situation was different and everyone was going to look at Jack like he was the one who was wrong and look at Rosetta like she needed help which was exactly what was happening.   
People promptly took notice, giving Jack dirty looks. For once her meltdowns were working in her favor.

“Leave her alone Jack,” a kid from her class said, coming up to her, diffusing the situation as the teacher blew the whistle that signaled they could go change and leave. “She never bothers anyone so don’t you dare bother her.”

Their name was Eli. She knew this because she had once found them crying out of frustration for a jammed locker on a stressful day and convinced them to go to the Relax Zone to calm down and take a break. Things were frustrating and Rosetta definitely had her fair share of outbursts and tears from little things but it was still good to go find a spot to rest.

Eli took her arm and guided Rosetta away while she wiped her face with one hand and flapped her other, the two of them going to the locker room.

“Are you alright?”

Rosetta nodded, bouncing her leg. “I’m fine but thank you.”

“Yeah Jack can definitely be…..”

“A jerk,” Rosetta said as they went in.

“That’s one way to put” Eli laughed before going to go change and leaving Rosetta wondering why Jack would want her over at his house. He hated her and had always been rude. She had no idea why all of the sudden he would try to be friends with her without some malicious intent. But she didn’t know why he’d have any malicious intent towards her or how he could hate her so badly for no reason that he did plan on doing terrible things to her.

There was no logical answer, or at least a logical answer that was comforting to her that could possibly fit into the situation.

As she got back in her normal clothes and fixed her makeup, her thoughts were racing as to what that interaction even meant.

Rosetta sat down beside Ellie at their table, mind still pondering everything that had happened in the last five minutes of gym as she played with her fidget cube to stim and calm herself down a bit more.

“Are you okay?” A random boy asked, coming up to her. “Jack seemed to be bothering you so I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

Rosetta nodded. She was pretty sure his name was Daniel but couldn’t be sure. She had thought she had heard the teacher and other students call him that but she never talked to him before so she never asked his name. That and she was terrible at putting names to faces. 

It was never anything personal against them; she just never had a good incentive to go and figure it out.

“Yeah I’m alright. Thank you,” she said, trying to be polite. She appreciated them coming to her to make sure she was alright but she didn’t like all the attention. Rosetta never knew how to handle it.

“Okay good. Just had to be sure,” Daniel said before leaving. 

All her friends looked at her.

“So do you want to tell us what happened?” Ellie asked.

“He came up to me out of nowhere and put his arm around me and was acting like we were best friends and asked me to come over to his place. It was just uncomfortable and weird,” Rosetta explained. “It sent me into another meltdown.”

“But he hates you,” Kiki said, stealing a curly fry off of Rosetta’s tray. Rosetta ignored it. She had grown used to her friends taking her food unprompted but it wasn’t like she didn’t do the same to them. Usually they all just shared food and ate off each other’s plate.

“I’m sure she’s well aware of that,” Meg said. Kiki just stuck her tongue out at her.

“It’s suspicious,” Ellie said.

It was common knowledge that Jack didn’t like Rosetta for no real reason and all of the sudden he was acting like they were friends and wanted her to come hang out with him. They were all still just as confused as before because none of them could quite understand the situation at all. Why would he all of the sudden go from hating her to being best friends and why would Jack even think that would work?

“That’s not even suspicious, it’s just outright weird,” Lana said. “Did you guys play dodgeball and he got hit too hard in the head?”

“I wish he got hit too hard in the head,” Ellie said before taking a bite of her sandwich.

“I can handle that. When I break in my new ballet shoes I’ll do it against his skull so that breaks too,” Meg said.

Rosetta knew she was referring to her pointe shoes. Because she was dancing for a few hours everyday and had show rehearsals for the upcoming Valentine’s Day show, she was going through her pointe shoes quickly and was getting what seemed like one or two new pairs a week.

Rosetta had watched her break in the shoes and prepare them. She had a little sewing kit and would add stitch knots on the tip of it and then sew in elastic bands to wrap around her ankles. Sometimes to make them more bendable to her feet she would hit them against something which is probably what she meant by breaking in her shoes and breaking his skull at the same time, bashing him over the head with the pointe shoe. It would probably hurt.

Ellie broke open her orange, beginning to hand out slices. “Just be careful. I don’t trust this.”

“Neither do I. Trust me on that,” Rosetta said, accepting the orange slice and eating it. She could have oranges and tangerines but not clementines.

Rosetta tried not to think too hard about what happened with Jack and instead focused on her Valentine’s Day plans. Valentine’s Day was on a Thursday this year and Meg’s dance was on Friday. Rosetta wasn’t going to miss either of those things no matter what happened. She could get crushed under the heaviest thing in the world and she would still go take Ellie out on a date Thursday and then go watch Meg’s show Friday. Her friends went to incredible lengths for her so there wouldn’t be a day that went by when she wouldn’t do anything for them. 

Card ideas were already running through her mind. She was going to need a lot of glitter glue and stickers and Beck would probably come over to her room on the weekend for them to work on the cards. Or she would go to his house. Both worked as they usually made Valentine’s Day gifts for their friends.

It was always a fun holiday. Her friends and her would always swap cards and give each other small gifts and Meg would always get them candy. Lana always wore a headband that had two hearts bouncing off of it from a wire and everyone got a cookie in the cafeteria.

Valentine’s Day was predictable and consistent every year at school and that was what Rosetta liked best about it.

However, being with Ellie was a new thing to add to it and she planned on obviously giving her a gift and then having a movie night with her. That was something they both agreed on several months ago when they had their fling. Both of them agreed that hanging out on Valentine’s Day or doing an activity together, when it was just them, would make people suspicious and now with Ellie having a fake boyfriend, James and Ellie were going to have to find a way to coordinate to make sure they could keep acting like a couple but also so Ellie and Rosetta could have time together.

Rosetta wanted to do something special for Ellie. She had never felt so sure of herself unless it came to loving and caring about Ellie. She had so many song lyrics about Ellie that she never showed her and she deserved to see them.

At least that was the first half of her gift. For what the other half would be she couldn’t quite figure out.

Rosetta had more then that on her agenda too. Though it wasn’t as urgent, she was planning on going to her aunt Danna’s soon to get her hair put in box braids. Both her parents and her sisters could do it for her but Danna was closer and since she had been braiding hair for longer she was much faster at it. 

Ever since Rosetta started classes at GATA, if she wanted her hair done in a specific style, she would tell Danna and would come over after classes let out. Her aunt would do her hair while Rosetta knocked out some homework and Narcissa would usually help her out if she needed it.

Rosetta pulled out her phone.

Rosetta: Can I come over next Monday night to get my hair put in box braids?

Rosetta: I want to change it up and I got new hair accessories for my birthday 

For her 18th, Lana got her a bag of mixed hair clips. It was an assortment of flowers, butterflies, stars, crescent moons, and hearts. All of them were a hard, shiny plastic with varying colors. Rosetta could put them in her hair now but she liked the idea of clipping them on the ends of her braids like she had done often when she was in middle school, the last time her hair was in box braids.

That and she wanted to add in some color but didn’t want to dye it and Rosetta had some neon orange hair extensions that would take care of that. All that had to be done was braid them into her hair.

Danna: Yeah that’s fine. Come by after school.

Rosetta: Thank you! I also have neon orange hair extensions we can add in. It’ll be pretty

Danna: Sure. See you then. Just stay out of trouble and I’ll do it

Rosetta: No promises ;)

She tucked her phone in her bag and then grabbed a few fries off of Kiki’s tray.

“Hey!” Kiki said, slapping her hand, even though Rosetta had already retreated with the food and had it in her mouth.

She swallowed.

“You stole some of my curly fries. Don’t complain. Write a song about it if it makes you that upset.”

“You two are the worst,” Meg said, stealing some of Kiki’s fries too.

“Excuse me!” Kiki yelped. “This is my lunch thank you very much!”

“This is now a communist table,” Lana said, taking fries for herself as well.

“Might as well join in,” Ellie said, snagging a few.

“Look what you’ve started Etta,” Kiki said, glaring at her. “Absolute chaos that’s what.”

“It’s what I do best,” Rosetta said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and giving her a smile.

She then gathered up the trays on the table and returned them, throwing out the garbage too. They all protested against it but Rosetta wasn’t having it. She genuinely enjoyed doing nice things for others and she especially liked doing things like these for her friends. She just liked helping others, even if it was for little things.

As she grabbed her bag the bell rang and she went to her next class with Kiki.

“So,” Kiki said, grinning mischievously. “Any Valentine’s plans for your girlfriend?”

She elbowed Rosetta playfully and Rosetta rolled her eyes, gently shoving her away as they walked through the halls.

“Of course I do. I’m a dumbass lesbian who’s been pining over a girl for like a year. Why would I not have a plan?”

Kiki burst out laughing. “I should have known. It’s just that you always panic with these sort of events.”

Rosetta shrugged. “That’s true. Of course I’m still trying to figure out the other half of her gift but I know the first part and I’m making her a card this weekend and we’re going to watch movies and cuddle.”

“Nothing else?” Kiki asked, raising a brow and smirking.

Rosetta punched her in the arm, knowing exactly what Kiki was thinking. She was suggesting that something more then cuddling was going to happen. But Rosetta didn’t think she was ready for anything more then making out.

“Don’t you dare even start," Rosetta told Kiki. "You’re dirty minded.”

“Well don’t ever expect me to be some sort of angel. No one is ever going to be an angel.”

“Okay. Okay,” Rosetta laughed. “Just don’t start waxing philosophy. It’s too early in the morning for this.”

“Etta we just ate lunch. It’s a quarter past noon.”

“Saying a quarter past noon isn’t something I can comprehend either.”

Kiki then went on her toes, reaching up and knocking her knuckles on Rosetta’s forehead. 

“Is the little woman who runs this establishment home? I have a few questions.”

“Nope. She quit when I was born. It’s empty up here.”

“Then what is happening in your mind?” Kiki asked.

“Elevator music,” Rosetta said bluntly, not missing a beat.

Kiki burst out laughing and Rosetta couldn’t help but giggle either. Oftentimes when she gave an immediate reaction or response it ended up being something comical. She was a naturally sarcastic and weird person so she tended to end up saying something funny or say something so weird in a blunt manner that it was funny.

“Great skies I love it when you say stuff like that,” Kiki snorted as she opened the door to their class.

“The key is to not think,” Rosetta said as she took a seat and dropped her backpack at her side. 

Kiki took her seat right next to her and set her things down, slumping back in the chair.

“Please never think then.”

“Oh I never have. I simply speak and regret it immediately,” Rosetta joked as the bell rang once more and class began.


	28. The Ballad of Screw You Jack Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosetta and Jack's disagreements hit their peak.
> 
> ALSO TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER FOR HOMOPHOBIA AND VIOLENCE!

Rosetta draped herself across one of the chairs in the common spaces. Throughout the campus, in all of the buildings, there were recreation spaces with tables and chairs and board games stored aside. The larger ones were in the student center and they had more than board games. There were pool tables, ping-pong tables, air hockey, board games, books, magazines, bean bag chairs, blankets, and even badminton rackets and birdies.

Oftentimes groups of students would come and hang out or work on projects together like Rosetta was now.

But at the moment, it was just Rosetta and Ellie, the two of them waiting while Beck and Kiki finished talking to one of their teachers about something related to their band while Lana waited for Meg to finish showering as she had rehearsals all day.

Since Meg was a dance major, she had rehearsals for the Valentine’s Day show, which had been casted a few months ago, but also the Spring Show. Their roles for that had been casted right before break and rehearsals started up right after and usually there was overlap between show rehearsals.

Meg liked to have someone wait for her so they all took turns. They had asked Ellie and Rosetta to go claim their spot before the commons got too crowded after people began leaving from classes and hopefully there weren’t too many people who didn’t have after class activities. Meg had barely escaped another round of rehearsals as she was thankfully scheduled for the next day.  
Rosetta was almost certain that their friends were just trying to give her and Ellie some alone time too by making them grab a spot but she wasn’t complaining and was instead ranting about a fantasy book series, The Aviator’s Path, that she was obsessed with to Ellie while Ellie listened and was writing something down in a notebook.

“So in the first book they get trapped inside this weird cell thing because they tried to start a prison revolt and one of the guards helps them escape and then slips some sort of coin medallion key thing into her hand but in the third book she finds the lock it opens and places it into the lock only for it to open and to reveal he made the antagonist his puppet and…..” she trailed off, realizing that Ellie probably didn’t know what she was talking about and she had been talking for too long about music anyways.

But Ellie was still looking at her intently while she wrote, listening and trying to understand. And Rosetta started to feel like she was being watched at the same time. It was the creepy feeling washing over her again and she assumed it was just because Ellie was staring at her but it didn’t help her want to talk much either.

“Why’d you stop talking?” Ellie asked, cocking her head, eyes full of concern. She paused from whatever she was scribbling down in one of her many notebooks though Rosetta couldn’t make out what it said. Her handwriting was in a very messy cursive that was not legible to anyone but Ellie and Rosetta could only read it after a few minutes of looking at it.

“I- I was talking too long. I know I tend to just ramble about things I like and ignore everything else and I thought you wouldn’t want to hear anymore of me talking about the book series. I know you’re not a big fan of fantasy or YA novels and stick to non-fiction,” Rosetta admitted, words rushed and blurred together.

Her face fell as she reached out and squeezed Rosetta’s hands.

“I love it when you ramble. I don’t care if it’s about something I don’t understand or like as long as you’re happy.”

“But isn’t it annoying?” Rosetta asked. “I mean most people find it annoying. They won’t always say it but I can tell eventually.”

She thought of all the times classmates had told her to shut up. She thought about all the times her teachers before high school had told her to shut up. She thought about all the faces of the adults and family members who tried to be nice but grew bored and wanted her to shut up.

“It’s not annoying. I love your voice regardless of the situation.”

“Really?” Rosetta asked. People told her she had a pretty voice when she sang and they told her they liked to hear her talk because her voice could be soothing when she was bored but no one ever told her that they always liked her voice. Eventually, one way or another, they would snap and signal in some way that she was being annoying. 

In fact, Ellie was the only one who had ever told her before that they liked her voice in general. Ellie was the first and only person to tell her that her rambling wasn’t a nuisance. Her friends never minded too much but they never said it.

“Of course!” Ellie said. “I swear you should have an ASMR channel and you should just talk forever about whatever you want and I would watch the videos and it would help me relax.”

The idea of someone wanting to listen to her talk for hours on end and not only wanting it but saying that it would relax them instead of annoy them made Rosetta ecstatic. No one ever wanted to hear her talk so she didn’t before she got too far ahead of herself.

Ellie then leaned over and pressed a kiss to her mouth but they were interrupted by Meg and Lana coming in. Meg was freshly showered, her short hair still a little wet as she flopped back in a bean bag and Lana launched herself onto a couch.

“So what have you two been up to?” Lana asked, raising a brow and smiling suggestively. 

Meg hit her with a pillow. “Lana leave them alone,” she said, leaning back in the bean bag and relaxing.

“We literally just sat here talking,” Rosetta said, rolling her eyes.

“You guys are gross,” Ellie said, sticking out her tongue.

Meg and Lana hooted with laughter as Rosetta peeled herself out of her chair and grabbed one of the little paddles for the air hockey.

“Anyone want to play?” She asked, tossing it up and catching it.

Lana got off the couch and took the other paddle. “You’re on.”

“First person to ten points wins,” Rosetta said, turning on the table and putting the disk down. She shot it right at Lana who missed blocking it. The puck didn’t make a point either, instead bouncing around the edges of the table.

They sent the puck back and forth, each of them scoring a few points while Meg and Ellie talked with each other and watched the little competition. 

Beck and Kiki then came in, disrupting the game by dumping snacks from the vending machine onto the table. They had a few cans of Snapple and some assorted snacks that they all liked.  
“Snack break!” Kiki yelled.

“Oh good. I was getting hungry after rehearsals?” Meg said.

“It’s why we came prepared,” Beck said as him and Kiki began passing out snacks.

The game would have to wait.

Rosetta reached for the peach Snapple but so did Lana.

“Winner of the game gets the Snapple?” Lana offered.

“Or you can both actually look and see that we got two,” Kiki said, rolling her eyes and passing them the other one.

“Oh,” Rosetta said, catching it. “Thank you.”

They all sat down and opened their drinks, trading Snapples and passing bits of their snacks to each other. Like normally, Beck and Rosetta continued their competition of catching food in their mouth, Kiki throwing fruit snacks in the air and each of them shoving each other out of the way to catch it. The game resulted in a lot of head-butting and crashing into each other but it was fun anyways.

As they messed around, the air hockey game was forgotten and abandoned, replaced by all of them laughing and giggling.

“Oh my stars! I forgot I have to grab some things from the camera department to finish up a project tomorrow! Can two of you come with me to get the equipment?” Lana asked, all of the sudden, eyes wide in horror at her own forgetfulness. 

“I’ll come,” Rosetta offered.

“Me too,” Ellie said, standing up.

“We’ll be back soon. Won’t take long,” Lana said, grabbing their hands and pulling them away and dragging them out the door. 

It was cold out so they ran down to the film house to get whatever camera equipment Lana needed. She usually forgot a lot of things but Rosetta never minded. She was forgetful herself too. 

As they went into one of the rooms, Lana started grabbing things and piled them on a table. She was musing over herself and counting things off in her mind as she did so, making sure she had everything.

In the meantime Rosetta and Ellie sat and waited patiently, looking at their phones.

She noticed there was a new posting on the school’s posting app which was literally just called GATA App. For a school based on talent and creativity it wasn’t a very creative name but it wasn’t like she could change it or complain much. The app was mandatory for all students to have and each student automatically got their own account by enrolling, but it kept them constantly updated on what was happening at school. All students could post on it, asking questions to teachers and being able to set up meetings as well as being able to ask for help and advice from other students on their own projects.

Immediately, both Ellie and Rosetta opened it up. They usually didn’t get many notifications but they were tagged in a post only for it to be a horror show. 

It was pictures of Ellie and Rosetta kissing posted by Jack Vales and outing them to the whole school. They were moments when the two of them had thought they were alone. It was all taken at school but Rosetta didn’t know how he even got these pictures. One was of them moments ago in the commons when Ellie had kissed her, right before Lana and Meg walked in.

But it wasn’t just the two of them in photos. The rest of it was all Rosetta. Some were videos and audio recordings where she admitted she wasn’t straight. And all of it was at the fingertips of their school.

Lana noticed their faces and turned, looking down at the photos with a face of shock.

Rosetta took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She didn’t think anyone at school would really be surprised but it didn’t make it right. Her love life and sexuality belonged to her and no one else. No one was entitled to know anything about them. 

Even if being gay or trans was mostly widely accepted, people being outed still happened and it still was miserable. There was part of being shoved out of the closet that no one talked about. It wasn’t the violence that followed after or the way people changed how they treated you or viewed you, it was the way if put up a roadblock from becoming who you were meant to be.  
And that was one of the worst parts.

Everyone carves a path for themselves in life and for many gay and trans people, part of carving that path is figuring out their sexuality or gender. It meant learning to let go of certain people and learning to accept part of who you are. It meant learning that some people were going to hate you for existing and it meant unlearning that in yourself too sometimes. 

Being gay or trans changes the way you view yourself and how others view you. It’s a large weight to bare and some people who hadn’t accepted those changes yet should not have been forced too and never should be forced too.

Lana pulled something out of the shadows by the hair. It was Jack and he must have had the ability to travel through shadows which would explain how he got the photos.

Jack was yelling at her but Lana wasn’t backing down. She never backed down.

“You asshole!” She screamed at him.

“They deserve it. Being gay is unnatural,” he insisted, growing defensive and glaring. 

“Oh but you believe Jesus could walk on water and that’s fine? News flash! Jesus and all the of the disciples were gay!”

“Don’t insult my religion like that!”

“It’s my religion too you dick! And maybe don’t be homophobic to my friends!” Lana yelled.

In the meantime Rosetta was trying to stay calm and keep Ellie from blowing her top. While everyone always assumed, based on the way Ellie and Rosetta dressed and acted, that Rosetta was the more violent one and Ellie was more docile, it was quite the opposite. Rosetta would never start a fight, no matter what. However her girlfriend, despite all the dresses and heels she wore, would absolutely shred someone if she felt it was necessary.

Both of them were good at physical fighting but Rosetta only used it as self defense whereas Ellie would do it on the drop of the dime without telling anyone.

And sometimes if she wasn’t careful and she was really pissed her powers got out of control. It happened for a lot of prodigies when emotions were running high and while Ellie was slow to anger, when she got upset it could be extreme. All hell would break loose sometimes.

Rosetta could tell Ellie was about to boil over and could feel the air in the room changing. It scared her and put her even more on edge. Things never ended well when this happened.  
Tears pricked her eyes.

“Elena,” Rosetta whispered, pleading. It had been so long since she had called Ellie by her full name.

“I know,” Ellie said softly. “I’m trying.”

She was aware of her powers becoming more and more wild and she knew that Rosetta hated violence not just for herself but for others. Every time Rosetta had ever been violent she lost control of her own powers, though unknowingly, and was expelled for it. She didn’t want the same for Ellie or any of her friends, especially when she had a feeling that by the end of this she was going to need them with her at school and at her side.

Jack’s attention then turned to Rosetta as he approached, Rosetta’s heart pounding with fear. She could defend herself but she did not want to. She was scared of not only him, but of the chance that she would be kicked out of another school. With her track record, administration was probably not on her side and she wasn’t sure if she could handle having to change schools again. She was so close to graduating and had finally found a place where she fit in and at the last leg of the race it might be ripped away from her.

Rosetta was also terrified that he would hurt Ellie and Lana. They would do everything they could to prevent her from being hurt and if that meant taking any hits for her then so be it. Even worse, he might hurt them in retaliation to her.

“You should have agreed to come over,” Jack snarled. “Maybe I could have changed you.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks silently and she bounced her leg and flapped her hands for comfort as he came closer. She felt herself shrinking and feeling the need to puke and the implications of his words. Rosetta had never before wanted her mom or dad with her at the moment.

Ellie jumped out of her chair before Rosetta could grab her hand and pull her back. Her fist collided with Jack’s face, a spray of blood shooting out. At the same time, all the air in the room shot back, causing the shelving unit of props behind Rosetta to come crashing down on her.


	29. The Ballad of Screw You Jack Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING FOR VIOLENCE AND HOMOPHOBIA!
> 
> Beck and the rest of the friend group try and help Rosetta.

There was nothing Beck felt worse about then leaving Rosetta’s side. He didn’t want to leave Rosetta’s side after he heard about what happened with Jack in gym class while he was gone but Rosetta had said that she was fine on her own. Earlier when she had put Pudge back in their room she had gone alone and was fine so he figured that Rosetta being with Ellie and Lana would mean that she would be fine.

And yet in that moment, Rosetta and Ellie got outed to the whole school on the school page and when he went to where she had gone to pick up Pudge, she was nowhere to be found.  
It made his heart pound. She had just been outed, no doubt by Jack, and now she wasn’t picking up his calls.

Beck shoved his phone in his pocket and grabbed Meg’s arm since she was right next to her, standing up and dragging her out of the common space to go find Lana, Ellie, and most importantly, Rosetta.

“Kiki come on! We’re going to find Rosetta!” Beck said.

“Why?” Kiki asked, raising a brow. Meg seemed confused too.

“Because Rosetta and Ellie just got their relationship exposed on the GATA App and it specifically went after outing Rosetta and it was done by Jack and now Rosetta isn’t picking up my calls,” Beck explained, already easily frustrated by the fact that he wasn’t at Rosetta’s side yet.

The post outed both of them but it did far more damage to Rosetta and was clearly intended for her. It had photos of her an Ellie kissing but there were also audios of Rosetta and other evidence that showed she was gay. 

And it was done by Jack who had never once been nice to her accept for a few days ago when he tried to get her to his house and Beck could only imagine what cruel things would be done to Rosetta if she had come.

It was clear that it was made to harm Rosetta and Ellie just so happened to get caught up in it. She was outed too, which was just as terrible, but Rosetta was made to suffer more from the incident.

“Oh no,” Kiki said, jumping from her seat and following them as they began to run to the Film House.

“I’m gonna fucking murder Jack,” Meg said.

“Not if I do it first,” Beck said.

“It can be a team effort how about that?” Kiki suggested.

“We’ll formalize the terms later,” Beck said as they made it to the Film House.

As they entered, Lana ran past, blood on her jeans. It made Beck’s stomach twist, horror and dread filling him.

“I’m getting her oxygen pack. You guys go help get her to the nurse!” Lana exclaimed as she passed, looking worried and terrified.

It made Beck feel even worse.

“What happened!’ Meg demanded.

"I’ll explain later! One of you go tell the nurses office!” Lana said, rushing off. “Room 428 is where they are!”

“Kiki and I will find the nurse’s,” Meg said, both her and Kiki turning on their heels to go back to the main building to get to the nurse’s office.

“Call us when you find her!” Kiki yelled as they went in the opposite direction.

He raced through the halls and found room 428, the door wide open.

Beck gasped at the sight.

The wooden shelving unit full of props had collapsed, boards snapped and splintering and objects thrown about. Some where broken and some were find, glass and shattered plastic and pieces of wood all over the carpet and in Rosetta too. It must have crashed down on her.

There was an intense amount of blood around Rosetta and she didn’t appear to be awake but she was breathing. There were already bruises and cuts on her face and arms and pieces of wood sticking out of her stomach, having ripped through her shirt.

Ellie was at her side, panicking but trying to keep an eye on her.

Tears poured down her face when his eyes met hers.

Rosetta groaned and both of them immediately turned to her, Beck sliding on his knees as he reached her side.

“Ellie what happened? Did Jack do this to her?” Beck asked, enraged that something so awful happened to his best friend.

Ellie shook her head, crying.

“No,” she said through sobs. “Jack made the post and came to see her reaction and then he made a threat to her and got too close so I punched him in the nose and lost control of my powers and the shelves came down on her. I tried to calm down like Rosetta said to but I couldn’t and now she’s hurt and it’s all my fault.”

Beck grabbed Ellie’s shoulders and forced her to face him.

“It’s not your fault,” Beck said sternly. “You had every right to be upset and you tried to keep your powers under control but Jack threatened you and Rosetta and you did what you had to do to stop him. Jack probably would’ve done worse on his own. You lost control of your powers but it wasn’t your fault and it wasn’t intentional and I’m sure Rosetta doesn’t blame you for it. So don’t put the blame all on yourself.”

Ellie nodded, sniffling and wiping her tears.

She deserved to become unhinged after what Jack did to her. After what he did to Rosetta. He outed them to the whole school and then made threats to Rosetta. She was only trying to keep Rosetta safe and she was scared and angry and distraught. If her powers went out of control despite her trying to rein them in then she must have been so upset that she deserved to lose control.   
She never meant to cause Rosetta any harm and of all the people who would know this and not blame Ellie it would be Rosetta.

In the mean time, a few nurses as well as Kiki, Meg, and Lana entered the room.

“Good heavens!” Nurse Carno yelped when she saw Rosetta. She then spoke into a walkie talkie. “Bring a stretcher and send down Nurse Lieu immediately. And make a call to Rosetta McLain’s parents telling them they need to come to the school as soon as possible.”

Beck did not like the sound of that at all.

Lana knelt at Rosetta’s side and gently put the oxygen pack on and Ellie turned the knobs to the right setting. It didn’t seem to matter much though as blood just went down the clear tubes and bubbled from the air shooting up.

Nurse Lieu and some others came quickly with a stretcher that they put her on and took her down to the nurse’s office. Students passing by looked in horror and concern and it seemed in minutes everyone had heard about what happened to Rosetta as Beck’s phone was blowing up with messages from fellow students.

However the GATA App was down and whenever Beck or any of his friends tried to open it, the app closed itself. It was like the administration knew about what Jack had done and shut it all down to stop it from becoming gossip but Beck knew it wouldn’t make a dent.

They reached the nurse’s office and where the nurses took Rosetta to another room. Beck didn’t actually think that Rosetta was dying. It was frightening but he didn’t think she was dying. Her breathing was not perfectly steady and yes there was a lot of blood but he had a feeling that the injuries weren’t terrible and her being unconscious might have had several factors to it aside from blood loss such as her head being hit by a large weight of wood.

It didn’t make the situation any better but it was the most he could do to comfort himself.

He was going to murder Jack for this. He had outed Rosetta and Ellie and then threatened Rosetta to the point where Elle lost control and Rosetta got hurt because of it. If Jack hadn’t done anything thenRosetta would be okay. Ellie would be okay too.

Beck should have punched Jack in the face the second he came back to school and heard about how Jack had been bothering Rosetta all gym class.

If he never had the doctor’s appointment then maybe he could have prevented this from happening too.

While nurses aided Rosetta, an administrator asked questions about the situation. One by one they all recounted what they knew and did their best to keep Ellie out of trouble. It wasn’t her fault. If anyone was to blame it was Jack.

Of course, Jack also happened to be in the nurse’s office in a nearby room as he heard Jack’s voice. Ellie must have gotten a solid hit on him if he was here.

Beck began to leave to go confront him and if not, tear him to shreds.

“Beck what are you doing?” Lana cautioned as he got up, the administrators having left them to be on the phone with Rosetta’s parents and get paperwork set up, also taking away the reports that all five of them had made.

“He’s in the other room. Come on,” he hissed angrily as he went over to the room where Jack was.

He pushed back the curtain and saw Jack sitting in a chair trying to stop the blood coming from his nose, an ice pack against the bridge of it too, swollen and mottled with bruises. 

At first, Beck was just going to yell at him but he couldn’t control himself. Not anymore. It wasn’t fair that Rosetta was drenched in her own blood and unconscious and all he had was some scratches.

But Ellie beat him to it, punching Jack square in the nose. It was probably better for her to deliver the blow. After all, she had been outed to the whole school by him too and it was her girlfriend that was now injured. At least she wasn’t losing control of her powers again.

There was a sickening crack as blood sprayed out. Beck had been well aware that both Ellie and Rosetta knew self defense and how to fight from their parents but he had never seen it in action. Since Ellie was perfectly fine and extremely pissed off, she might have broken Jack’s nose if it wasn’t already broken before. Not that Beck really cared all that much.

Jack went to throw a punch back but Beck intercepted, throwing up a shield and watching as he stumbled back after his body rammed into it. But Beck wanted to do more then just defend Ellie. He wanted to defend Rosetta too and that meant beating the shit out of Jack.

Beck raised his fist and shot it at his face and then his stomach. Jack got in a good blow to the face at Beck before the commotion was noticed and they were all pulled apart.

Security came and separated them to end the fight before it got worse as Miss Carno came over and yelled at them.

“MISTER ADAMS WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING IN MY OFFICE!” Carno bellowed, screaming at him. “Your friend is unconscious in the other room and this is what you do?”

“This is his fault! He made her uncomfortable in gym and then made threats to her right before this happened and he’s always hated her! He even outed her to the whole school today and then went to harass her more after! Whether or not he hurt Rosetta this morning he still deserves it!” Beck yelled.

“Also I punched him,” Ellie admitted.

“I understand your anger but I can not handle more injured kids at the moment. Mr. Vales you will be escorted to the other side of the infirmary and you’ll be held there until your parents can pick you up and possibly keep you from the school permanently while we wait for Miss McLain to wake up and explain this for herself. Ms. Tucker Silva and Mr. Adams you will have your injuries treated but you will all go back to your rooms for the rest of the day based on what has happened. Only one of you may stay here to wait for her to wake up until her parents arrive,” Carno ranted before turning on her heel and leaving.

She seemed less upset with them and more angry with Jack but definitely not happy about anything. Rosetta, as annoying as it probably was that she came to the office so much, had become one of Carnos’s favorite students. She was no doubt enraged that she had been hurt in such a manner. 

Jack was escorted by security, taken far away with a nurse to help the newfound injuries Beck and Ellie gave him. In the mean time Ellie’s hand was treated, as she had punched him wrong, Beck received an icepack, and they decided that Ellie would wait for Rosetta. The rest of them left as they were forced out and they were going to be kept under watch to make sure they didn’t hurt themselves to come see her.

In Rosetta’s room they packed up all her clothes and got things put together. Beck took the lead, knowing exactly how she packed everything and knowing just what to do for it. They also calmed down Pudge who smelled Rosetta’s blood on their clothes and went into a fit.

Lana and Beck then changed clothes and they all tried to digest what had just happened.


	30. The Ballad of Screw You Jack Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING FOR VIOLENCE AND HOMOPHOBIA
> 
> Rosetta gets her things and goes home.

Rosetta woke up in the nurse's office. The room was relatively empty, the only person being Ellie who sat in the chair by the bed she was on, reading a book on fashion history, her backpack by her chair and her right hand wrapped up with bandaging.

"What are you reading about?" Rosetta asked sitting up. She regretted that decision and laid back down, her head hurting too much. It felt like there was a drum inside her head, banging on her skull. Her stomach was also burning and she assumed something must have cut her there.

"YOU'RE UP!" Ellie exclaimed, looking relieved. Rosetta covered her ears. Everything seemed so loud now. She seemed to notice and reeled it back.

"Sorry," She apologized, squeezing Rosetta's hand reassuringly. "Your parents are on their way."

A nurse, Miss Carno, then walked in. "Good. She's awake." She then turned her attention to Rosetta. "Can you explain what happened"

"Jack Vales outed me today and then right after came to mock me about it. He made threats towards me and Ellie punched him and her powers went crazy and the shelves collapsed. It was an accident though and Jack more or less made her do it," Rosetta said.

Ellie made a sour face, a spark of rage but also satisfaction in her eyes.

"Oh. Jack Vales. The boy Mister Adams beat up," Carno said. "It's a good thing he's being held by the administration. We were informed of this by your friends but wanted your confirmation first."  
Rosetta didn't know that Beck had gone and beaten up Jack but she wasn't necessarily mad about it. She was honestly amazed he kept his composure so long that it didn't happen the second she had told him last night that Jack had put an arm around her shoulder.

"Which is why Beck beat his bitch ass up!" Ellie cheered.

"MISS TUCKER SILVA!" Carno reprimanded but Ellie just shrugged, not really seeming to mind being yelled at.

Rosetta covered her ears again. "Please stop yelling. It really, really hurts my ears," she asked. "Also Jack has definitely been stalking me to get all the pictures used to out us. And a bunch of videos and audios of me."

"Oh," Carno said, surprised. "I'm sorry to hear that but rest assured that he won't be coming back to the school here anytime soon and Mr. Adams punched him a decent amount and apparently Ms. Tucker Silva hit him too."

"Jack's not in the nurse's office is he?"

"He is but in another room on the opposite side of the infirmary," She reassured. "And Mr. Adams was sent to his room with an ice pack."

She then pulled out a clipboard and then began doing an inspection and running tests on Rosetta. She passed her finger in front of her eye and had her follow it. Rosetta couldn't though and she failed a number of other tests as well.

"And that's a concussion to add to the list. While you were out you were given stitches on your brow and nose and we healed your broken nose but, the concussion isn't too bad so a few days of bed rest will be good but no screens or electronics for the next twenty four hours. There are also stitches on your stomach. Rest assured it is mostly healed and some pain killers will help."

Carno then went to a little cabinet and took two pills out of a bottle before filling up a plastic cup with water. She gave them to Rosetta and had her swallow the pill. It didn't vastly improve her, but after a few minutes she was able to sit up without her head hurting so much.

Carno left and Rosetta didn't bother to check how she looked to see the extent of the damage. She rested her head back against the wall. She was glad she was assigned bed rest as she wanted badly to go home.

She didn't feel like packing everything up into her parent's car and really just wanted to get her backpack and cat and leave.

"So Beck beat him up?" Rosetta asked, wiping off some dried blood under her nose. Her hands were still stained red and it was all over her shirt too.

"The second we realized he was in the office, Beck went after him. Didn't even know if he had hurt you and even if this-" Ellie said, gesturing to Rosetta's injuries. "- wasn't related to Jack, he still deserved it anyways. I won't lie, I threw the first punch and Beck took over from there."

It didn't surprise Rosetta at all. While everyone always assumed, based on the way Ellie and Rosetta dressed and acted, that Rosetta was the more violent one and Ellie was more docile, it was quite the opposite. Rosetta would never start a fight, no matter what. However her girlfriend, despite all the dresses and heels she wore, would absolutely shred someone if she felt it was necessary.

Both of them were good at physical fighting but Rosetta only used it as self defense whereas Ellie would do it on the drop of the dime without telling anyone.

Ellie then stood up and got a paper towel, running it under some water. She came back and started cleaning off some of the blood on her face.

"You don't have to."

"Well they already sterilized your wounds but I don't mind helping you get all the blood off. You might want to shower as well because there's a lot in your hair too."

Rosetta rolled her eyes as Ellie gently rubbed her cheeks with the damp towel. "Figured. Where's Lana and the others?"

"Getting your things ready in our room because you're going home until Monday. And making sure Beck keeps his icepack on. After your parents get here and you finish talking to them I'll take you back to your room so you can get your things."

She went to sit back down but Rosetta grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. Ellie hugged back, holding her tight and rubbing her back, pressing a kiss to her head. Rosetta slid off the bed and stood so she could hold Ellie closer, her head on her girlfriend's shoulder.

Rosetta pulled away and cupped her face, looking for any cuts on her. She wanted to make sure that Jack hadn't done anything to her at all either.

"He didn't hurt you did he?" Rosetta asked, running a thumb over her cheek.

Ellie reached up and took the hand Rosetta had on her face into her own, squeezing it.

"I'm fine," she reassured. "Don't worry about me. My hand is wrapped up but only because I was so mad I punched him the wrong way and hurt myself. I'll be fine by tomorrow."

"Ellie, he outed you too. I was so worried that if you got in between things you were going to get hurt," Rosetta cried, tears starting to well up and roll down her cheeks.

"You're the one he hated! Why would he hurt me!" Ellie exclaimed, wiping her thumb under Rosetta's eyes gently to make some of the tears go away even though they just kept coming.

"Because I thought he was going to hurt you in retaliation for me or something like that. And there were threats on the post."

"But you got hurt badly!"

"Who cares?"

"I do!" Ellie said, now crying a little too. "All of us care about you Ro. We love you. I love you!"

It took them both back a bit. They had told each other that they loved each other before, but it had always been platonic, not romantic. They had only been with each other for a little over a month and even for as long as they had known each other and their months long relationship before, even though Rosetta did love her, she had thought it had been too soon to say it. But now Ellie was ready to hear it and she could tell her that.

They never had stopped loving each other when they weren't together.

"I love you too Ellie," Rosetta said softly, pressing her head against Ellie's, arms around her waist. Ellie then cupped her face and kissed away her tears and Rosetta could feel her smile. Ellie then blew raspberries and pressed quick kisses all over her neck and face, making Rosetta giggle.

She needed it and she appreciated it.

She then heard her parents voices outside, no doubt being filled in more by Carno.

Ellie pulled away. She then picked up her book and Rosetta grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"I think it's time we tell our parents we're dating," Rosetta said.

Ellie smiled softly. "I know. I'll tell my parents tonight and now's your chance to tell yours because I think your parents are here. I'll wait outside for you so I can take you to get your things in your dorm."

She smiled as she left, her parents walking in. They looked relieved to see her, glad she was at least awake even though she felt miserable and still had a lot of blood on her despite all that Ellie had cleaned off.

"Thank goodness you're alright. We were so worried!" Adrian said, moving to hold her and press a kiss to her cheek.

"I want to go home," Rosetta said before they could say anything more. "Can I just get my things and then leave and explain once we're home?"

"Of course sweetie. Whatever you want," Nova said, taking her hand in hers and holding it tightly. "Can you stay awake the whole car trip?"

"I think so. Ellie and my friends can help me get my things. I can meet you in the car."

There was only one parking lot on campus since most of the students didn't drive and instead took the train. It was more for parents trying to come pick up their kids though Rosetta didn't think anyone imagined a situation like this occurring.

She could find the car from there.

She split from her parents but before they left they were given back her oxygen pack. It had been cleaned off, all the blood having been removed and most likely by some prodigy.

Rosetta went back to her room with Ellie, both of them ignoring the faces of gaping students who passed by.

All of her friends were gathered together and waiting, Pudge rushing to her.

He saw her and jumped towards her, Rosetta catching him in her arms. She'd put him in his carrier so she'd have less to hold but let him out in the car so she could hold him.

All her things were neatly put in her duffel and in her cello case was also her electric guitar as she was keeping her bass and acoustic at home.

"How are you feeling?" Kiki asked gently as Rosetta convinced Pudge to get into his crate which he was very reluctant to do.

"Pain but it'll go away," Rosetta said nonchalantly.

"Can we hug you?" Beck asked, lifting the ice pack off his face.

"Yes you can hug me but.. softly," Rosetta warned.

In a split second she was gathered in a group hug. They were all crying, all holding onto one another tightly. Had it not been for the circumstances, Rosetta would have enjoyed the moment more. But there was too much weight to it for her to really be able to gather as much of a feeling of peace as before.

And that hurt most of all.


	31. The Ballad of Screw You Jack Part 4 (This Is a Very Long Ballad)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosetta explains everything to her parents while she grapples with what happened.

When they got home they helped Rosetta put her things away before settling in her room.

"So do you want to tell us what all happened?" Nova asked, stroking Rosetta's head as Adrian gave her a cup of hot chocolate.

Rosetta took the cup but didn't drink anything from it, just letting it warm her hands.

"Okay so the kid who did this is Jack Vales. No doubt about it. Somehow we were put in English together every year but this one and he's the Devil's Advocate kid."

Both her parents groaned.

Rosetta laughed, short and curt. "I know. But he's hated me for ages and he found out that Ellie and I are dating," Rosetta admitted.

It was not very shocking. She never outright said anything but with a large amount of gay people in the family, her mom herself being bisexual, it wasn't hard to tell, especially with the way she dressed and generally looked. Straight people didn't have 17 piercings, tattoos, and giant winged eyeliner with the most outrageous button ups and earrings they can find and 6-inch platform boots all while listening to Girl in Red and Janelle Monae.

Even if it was a surprise, it didn't matter to them.

However, dating Ellie might have been a small shock. Technically she had a boyfriend and Rosetta and her were at a point where they were so comfortable with each other as friends that affection could be passed off as platonic.

Nova and Adrian let her continue.

"He's always been homophobic and transphobic yet it's an art school and a lot of kids are gay or trans so he never said much but, I guess he just really hated me and needed a reason to hurt me so he essentially stalked me and gathered evidence of Ellie and I dating each other."

That was one of the worst parts of it. To know that someone had been watching and following her for a month, taking pictures and stalking her. She hated the thought of anything else he might have done to her with his powers in her sleep or in her room when she wasn't there.

"He did what to you!?" Her parents demanded, both of them horrified and concerned.

"But then Monday when gym was ending he came up to me and acted like we were best friends and kept trying to get me to come over to his place and it was really uncomfortable and I knew it wouldn't have happened if Beck hadn't been at the doctor's for a check up. And for a while I had a small feeling that I was being watched."

"Sweet rot this keeps getting worse," Nova muttered under her breath.

"I got the feeling in so many different and random places that I thought I was just paranoid," Rosetta continued. "We were all holding our breaths because everything was circumstantial and it's not like Jack managed to really do anything. It was just weird.

"Then nothing happened for a few days so I thought it was just a weird occurrence but then I got an alert on my phone for the school's web page and he outed Ellie and I on it with pictures he had taken of us kissing and audios and videos he had taken of me anytime I made a joke about being gay or admitted it.

"And I was with Lana and Ellie in the Film House when we got outed and he just came out of the shadows and started mocking us and Lana started to argue with him and then he said if I had come to his house he could have turned me straight and this wouldn't have happened and he got close and Ellie lost it and punched him and all the shelving units crashed down because of her powers so I was knocked out. I woke up in the office and Ellie said that both her and Beck had punched him again.

Adrian took a deep breath. "Okay," he said. "That's a lot."

"No shit," Rosetta mumbled, finally taking a sip of her drink.

"But what matters now is that you're at home and you're safe," Adrian said, pressing a kiss to her head. "You got knocked up pretty bad so you won't be going back to school for a bit."  
"I figured. They said I'd be on bed rest and all that. They also told me he's being expelled for this."

"They told us that too but they said if you wanted to press charges, they have papers ready. Personally I'd like to rip him apart limb by limb but it's your choice," Nova told her.

Rosetta shrugged. "I don't really care as long as he's no where near me."

It wasn't necessarily a true statement. She did want more then him being expelled. She wanted to wipe him off the face of the earth if anything and face punishment but she knew that the second she spoke out against what happened, the minute she tried to take action against Jack, the façade she had built up over the past few years would completely fall apart. The media would be down her throat for it because of it and her parents would be criticized and her family would no doubt find out all about her handle in the music industry. She didn't want to lose control over getting to tell them about that on her own terms either. It was far too valuable to her.

Rosetta took another sip of her drink. "I'm sorry I didn't come out to you sooner. Ellie and I have been dating for a bit now and our friends and Danna and Narcissa knew because they were helping us keep cover and I just- never said anything because frankly I was terrified that this would happen. But-" she wiped her eyes and tears started to form once more. "At least I don't have to be scared anymore."

"And you faced it very bravely even though you didn't have to," Nova reassured, holding her hand. Neither of her parents seemed upset that Danna and Narcissa knew and they didn't which was a relief because it wasn't that she didn't trust them to keep it secret but she didn't trust the media to snoop where it shouldn't have been. One wrong slip up and it'd be all over magazines and newspapers and right before Jack's eyes and things could have been much worse then him just outing her.

It wasn't like no one had already assumed that she was gay and that Ellie wasn't straight either, but it still ached.

"But why didn't you tell us about the problem at school sooner?" Her mom asked. "I understand you not coming out and obviously we aren't entitled to that but you could have at least told us that Jack had been bothering you."

"It was all little petty things before this so I didn't say anything even if he was bothering me," Rosetta said, crying again.

"Sweetie if you didn't feel like you would be safe to come out to us here in your own home because of one singular person then it wasn't something petty and little," Adrian told her, wiping off some of the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"There's also one more thing you should probably know," Rosetta sniffled. "So I finally got my prodigy powers."

"That's great Setta!" Adrian said.

"Wait from this incident," Nova added, both of them a little horrified.

Rosetta shook her head. "No. It's a long story but not from this."

"Well what is it sweetheart?" Adrian asked.

"Probability manipulation. Once I figure out how to control it, I can essentially do anything I want. The only problem is that I will always remember what happened no matter what I changed and no matter what timeline I put myself on," Rosetta said. "But sometimes when I freak out they end up causing major things to happen. That's how I realized. I got so freaked out about something that I could see all the numbers and percentages in front of me and it matched what was happening in my surroundings."

"Do you think that maybe your powers factored into the whole situation with Jack?" Nova asked.

"Can I just shower?" Rosetta choked, starting to cry harder. "I really don't want to talk about it and I'm tired of being covered in my own blood."

It was all hitting her a lot more now that the adrenaline had worn off.

Someone had stalked her and knowing she was gay, tried to get her to go out with them. She had suffered over three years of rage from someone in such a subtle way that she couldn't even come out as gay to her family because a random classmate emotionally abused her. He threatened her and became so angry and aggressive that Ellie lost control and she got hurt from it. He had put her through hell.

"Of course baby," Nova said.

"If you need anything just tell us alright," Adrian said, pressing a kiss to her head.

Rosetta nodded, wiping her face and finishing her hot chocolate as they left her room, giving her some space.

She put the cup aside and went to her closet to get fresh clothes. She just wanted pajamas and to curl up and feel warm and safe somewhere. As she did, she noticed the blanket she had shoved away was missing. She was curious but at this point, cared more about getting all the blood off herself then anything else.

Rosetta trudged to the bathroom, turning on the shower and setting her clothes on the counter. In the mirror she saw just how bad the damage was.

A nasty cut ran through her brow, having been stitched up with a bandage placed over it and bruises surrounding the area. Her nose was a little swollen but going down, less bruised. There was still plenty of dried blood in her hair and brows and in her nose piercings.

Black and blue and purple and green bruises mottled her dark skin and it hurt to touch her face. She wasn't missing teeth thankfully but her eyesight wasn't exactly great. She'd have to get that checked out if it didn't go away soon.

Her hands were still covered in blood, her light palms stained with a red tint with black and dried blood beneath her fingernails.

She took off her clothes and threw them in the corner for her to put in the wash later before hoping in the shower. She just sat in the tub, letting the water from the shower head spray at her head as she looked down, watching as dark pink water went down her body and then down the drain.

Rosetta just sat there, liking the way the warm water felt on her body.

She scrubbed herself down with soap, getting dried blood out from under her nails and off her body. It felt good to clean it all off. Not just the blood, but all the parts of her that Jack touched when they were in the gym. It's not like she held less value after what happened to her, yet she still felt tainted in a way. She didn't like the idea of the asshole having ever touched her. She felt awful knowing that a person as terrible as him had ever touched her, even if it was things like a hand on the shoulder.

But as long as Ellie and their friends were safe Rosetta didn't care. That was all that mattered to her. She never cared for the consequences for herself so long as her friends remained untouched.  
She got out of the shower and dried off, putting on pajamas. She used her powers to fix her hair as she didn't feel like going through the process required to keep it moisturized and healthy at the moment.

Rosetta went and threw her things in the laundry to wash out the blood as best she could before going downstairs to the living room. Both her parents were there on the couch and her mom had a yellow wrapped package with a gold ribbon tied into a bow around it in her hands.

"Open it," her mom said, handing her the package as she sat down between them.

Rosetta did, gently unraveling the bow and taking off the paper. It was the baby blanket of hers that was never finished.

But now it was.

The space inside the border was filled with the art that was on her tattooed hand but everything was colored in to match how it would look in reality. It was incredibly detailed and way better then the blankets her sister's had. Valerie's filled with lush flowers and leaves and vines and Eva's was filled with a large flame, having different shades of red and orange and yellow and blue and white. Theirs were in tune to their powers and Rosetta's wasn't and despite that, she still loved it. Even if they did know her powers when Nova made it, Rosetta didn't want a blanket covered in math symbols.

"Oh it's so cool," she gasped.

"We figured you'd like it. Not like you don't have that on your hand and sketch it everywhere," Adrian laughed.

It was true. She sketched it all the time and the design was in a million of her notebooks. She doodled it on tests and worksheets and papers for class too. She had probably scribbled it on napkins and table tops too.

"Sorry it took so long to get it to you. Had to wait until you got older so I could actually put something you liked on it," Nova said.

"You were supposed to get it this weekend but we thought you could use it now," Adrian told her.

"Why on the weekend?"

"Well your sister's got theirs when they were born and it didn't seem fair to give it to you for Christmas or your birthday when they didn't and you have been waiting for 18 years for it to be finished," Nova said.

There was no doubt that she didn't know that Rosetta loathed not having a finished blanket as she had to have found it shoved in the darkest part of her closet collecting dust. She didn't say anything about it though.

Once she was done admiring it, Adrian took it and bundled her up in it, draping it over her head and pulling it to her front so her face and feet were the only thing exposed. The blanket was cozy and soft and she wasn't exactly tired but it made her want to rest. Nova could put her to sleep with a single touch but no matter what, her ability to do seeped into everything like how when she talked you felt relaxed and sleepy and how any clothes or blankets she made you resulted in one feeling tired when you put them on.

"At least now we get to have a day with you. I know you can't exactly do much because of your concussion but is there anything you want to do? Anything we can do to cheer you up?" Nova asked.  
She was feeling much better after her shower and getting the blanket but Rosetta still wasn't feeling great. Mostly she wanted to lie down and she felt like she could lie down forever. She was like a house of cards. Right now she was standing, having been rebuilt and blown down several times over the past few days, but she was going to fall to the ground in the end. She was not stable enough to stand on her own forever.

"I just-" She choked, barely being able to get any words out before crying again and collapsing against her dad.

He held her tightly, pressing a kiss to her head and Nova moved closer, running a hand through Rosetta's hair.

And as much as they knew what happened, they couldn't comprehend the depth of it. The situation ran far deeper then what they knew. It revolved around her home life and everything that she had hid because once Rosetta tried to fight back for herself it would all unravel and she would get hurt more. She knew they were concerned, but she didn't want to let them down too. Rosetta didn't want to let herself get hurt even more by seeing just how much of a disappointment they really viewed her if they knew everything she had done. Once they knew the truth and that she was truthfully going to pursue music and through and through, she was just a fuck up. She had such incredible powers and still couldn't do anything right to them.

The idea of all that had happened and all that might happen was terrifying. When she gained something in the situation, she would lose something just as important.

Rosetta may have sworn off using her powers for herself, but now she wasn't so sure. She couldn't undo the trauma and the impact and the fear. She didn't want to go back into the closet either if she erased the entire mess. But she could pull Jack's life apart at the seams.

"You're safe Rosetta. I promise you're safe," Adrian reassured, trying to comfort her.

It only made her cry harder because she wasn't safe. Someone outed her and she had been attacked and now she had to fight it in silence as the most important aspects of her life were threatened.

And they wouldn't even be able to understand the depths of how bad it was.

Nova and Adrian did their best to calm her down, holding her and rubbing her back and squeezing her hand. Nova had gone and gotten Pudge to help get her to relax and it helped but still not enough.

Rosetta had cried herself to sleep on her dad's lap. Maybe she had been knocked out by her mom or maybe it was on her own. Either way, she fell into a very deep nap, completely exhausted.


	32. The Ballad of Screw You Jack Part 5 (This Is a Very Long Ballad)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosetta tells Eva about what happened and reads the rest of Ellie's letters.

Rosetta woke up in her bedroom with Pudge by her side. Normally he slept on her and she found it a little odd, especially with the weird position her was in. She assumed that he must have figured out that it would probably hurt her if he slept on top of her.

She looked at the little clock and saw that it was around 3, Eva probably having gotten home about an hour ago.

Rosetta had a good, refreshing nap but emotionally, she was still depleted. And hungry, her stomach growling. She had only eaten some bread and jam and fruit early in the morning and then a small lunch of a bag of grapes as she hadn't been that hungry at the moment, only having a Snapple later in the day. It wasn't really that much.

She knelt on her bed and winced in pain as she leaned over to get something to eat from her snack stash. She had forgotten that her stomach got cut up. She had no idea what with, but there were stitches in it and it was mostly healed though still sore and bruised.

Rosetta grabbed the box of Cheeze-Itz from underneath her bed and started shoving them in her mouth as she pulled out her phone and turned on some music, connecting it to her little speaker, even though it wasn't good for her concussion.

She laid on her bed, enjoying her music and singing along softly to help herself relax. It was a good mix of different genres accept for country. She hated country. But there wasn't a song she disliked on her playlist. She was always making new ones so she didn't tire of songs.

There was a knock on her door.

"Hey Setta?" A voice- Eva- asked. "Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Eva came in cautiously, like she was scared of Rosetta. Or scared of doing something to Rosetta.

There was a paper and pencil in her hand.

"Can you help me with my homework for my music class please? I have to fill in the notes but I don't understand anything," Eva admitted, handing Rosetta the paper to show her.  
"Yeah of course," Rosetta said, taking the paper.

On it were pictures of random notes on the scale and a line beneath them were you were supposed to write what note it was. The problem was that they weren't given any fully labeled scale for reference and while the clefs were labeled, Rosetta had a feeling Eva didn't know the difference.

Instantly, Rosetta knew all the answers. She took the pencil from Eva and scribbled them all in without hesitation. It was just second nature to her at this point.

"How'd you do that so fast?" Eva asked.

Rosetta shrugged. "I mean I write music all the time."

She shoved another handful of Cheeze-Itz in her mouth. She expected her younger sister to leave now that she had what she wanted but instead she stayed, looking around her room and inspecting everything.

"So what happened to you?" Eva asked suddenly. She must have been working up the courage to ask. "Mom and Dad say if I know it's up to you. All I know is that you had to come home early and are staying home for the next few days. I thought you were sick but it looks like you got in a fight."

"Not too far from what happened," Rosetta said.

"You got in a fight with someone? Did you get suspended? Did they deserve it?" Eva asked, eyes lighting up. She had no idea what was coming for her but Rosetta wasn't going to hold back.  
Rosetta shook her head. "No. What happened was that a boy was obsessed with me and used his powers to stalk me. He found out I was gay and dating Ellie and he then used pictures of us to out us to the whole school. He then came to use to- I don't know- taunt us, and Ellie was so pissed at him that when she punched him she lost control of her powers and a shelving unit collapsed on me."

Eva's face fell. It was not what she was expecting at all.

"He really followed you around so he could out you?" Eva asked, frightened and clearly questioning everything. Their extended family and family friends were all in same sex relationships. If this is what Rosetta faced in school, then she was probably wondering what horrors happened to the rest of their family members and what things would happen to Rosetta in the future.

Of course, Rosetta being a neuro-divergent, formerly disabled girl of color probably didn't help. Her also not having powers, at least to everyone but her and her friends, made her an easy target. She had little to defend herself and the cards were always stacked against her as she had been expelled two times before, making any report she made suspicious and leaving her more defenseless then before if she ever did stand up for herself.

Aside from that, having Nightmare for a mother made you a person people didn't really believe. Once people found out they always assumed she was lying and if she ever got aggressive or defensive someone would come along and make comments about her parents that only made her more enraged. Unless she wanted some big article ranting terrible things about her parents and family it was best to just sit quietly and take all the problems. This way, no one but herself got hurt and Rosetta would always prefer that.

"Yeah. It sucks but it's not like there's anything I can do about it. Both Ellie and Beck punched him if that's any reassurance."

Eva cocked her head, a small grin of satisfaction on her face from that statement. "So you're dating Ellie right?"

Rosetta nodded. "Yeah for like over a month now but, we were together for seven months before we took a break to work some things out. Her dating James was just a distraction."

A half truth. She wasn't going to admit that they were so set on making sure the other was comfortable in the relationship that they thought they weren't so they broke up.

"Dammit. That means I owe Val and Caleb 10 bucks," Eva said, scowling.

Rosetta choked on her Cheeze-Itz. "I'm sorry were you betting on us dating?"

Her younger sister rolled her eyes, as if it were obvious. "Of course we were. That's why I asked about Beck, just to make sure. I mean we were all pretty sure that James and Ellie weren't really dating because you and Ellie are way more intimate then the two of them have ever been according to Maya but-"

"Okay how many people were in on this betting pool thing?"

"Val, Milo, Maya, Caleb, and I. We've been betting on if you were dating or not but I thought for sure that if you and Ellie were a couple you would have told us."

It was just all their siblings. Their parents probably suspected as much but it was true, James and Ellie may have pulled off a good façade, but once Ellie and Rosetta got back together, the act slowed down a lot as they didn't have to keep it up as much. That and Ellie and Rosetta really pushed the boundaries of what was considered platonic or not.

"So anyways me and everyone else owe Val and Caleb money because they were right. You two are dating and no offense but you guys really pushed what could be considered your friendship or not. I mean you're really close with Ellie and all your friends but there were some things that were not straight whatsoever."

It was true. Rosetta snuggled and gave forehead kisses to all her friends so long as they let her. She hugged them and held them and loved them and supported them all as much as possible. But there were some things between Ellie and Rosetta, like how they were almost always touching each other in some way when together, that were undeniably just between them. Things that would be platonic if Rosetta did them with everyone.

"Figured as much," Rosetta sighed, eating more of the Cheeze-Itz. Ellie and her weren't exactly subtle.

She expected her sister to leave after that but instead she stuck around. For once she wasn't annoying Rosetta and it was probably because of the amount of injuries she sustained.

Eva sat in the chair in the corner, swinging gently and talking to Rosetta about her day. She explained what was happening in her school and drama in her friend circle, what she was leaning about in her classes and funny things that had happened to her.

"What about you? How's everything when you're away?" Eva asked.

"Well I got stalked and outed and shelves collapsed on me so....umm.... pretty shitty. Nothing says happy birthday like being hate-crimed," Rosetta said. Her sister burst out laughing and then clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle it.

"I'm sorry. That's not funny. Just the way you phrased it," Eva apologized.

"You're fine. But I guess before things were alright. I've got some new songs in progress for class and right before this all happened me and my friends were having fun messing around in the commons."

Eva cocked her head. "What are the commons?"

Rosetta had forgotten that her family knew nothing about her school or its layout. They knew it was a campus with multiple buildings, but there were a lot of things that had been nicknamed by the students.

"Oh it's what we call all the rec-space in the common building."

"Common building?"

"That's where all students regardless of major can come for resources. There's the cafeteria, the library, our rooms, places to watch pets, mental health facilities, the nurse's office, and just a bunch of space with things like bean bags and ping pong for students to mess around with."

"Okay now I want to see your school."

"You can just come on siblings day. Seniors are allowed to bring one sibling if they want. Or at least one person along with them. I was thinking of taking Dean but if you're up for it when the day comes then be my guest," Rosetta said.

"Really!"

"Sure. I'll tell you when the date is once I find out."

Rosetta pulled out her phone even though she wasn't supposed to be using it. It was nice to have someone interested in it but not for the reasons Rosetta aimed for and certainly not the situation she wanted this to occur in. Yet if someone wanted to know, she'd show them more about her school.

Rosetta didn't actually have a lot of pictures of her school on her phone. She had plenty of pictures of her and her friends in random places and certainly had a vast array of videos of her and her friends doing dumb shit on campus, but it wasn't like she went out of her way to get panorama shots of rooms.

She pulled up the school website instead. She showed Eva the pictures of all the halls of rooms and the place where all the pets were watched over. She showed her the cafeteria and the roof where students hung out and all of the pictures of the campus that were available. As Eva looked at the pictures in awe, something in Rosetta's room caught her eye. She reached over to Rosetta's backpack and grabbed something out of it.

She held up the three letters Ellie had written Rosetta, one opened and the other two sealed.

"What are these?" She said, a devious smile plastered on her face.

Rosetta reached out and grabbed the letters, ripping them away from her.

"Those," she said, glaring. "Are not for you. They're private and you can't touch them."

"How do you know what's even in them? Only one is open?" Eva pointed out.

"And the one that's open is private and you can't touch them. Leave my stuff alone why don't you. If it's in my backpack or an instrument or skateboard you may not touch it. Understood?"  
Eva rolled her eyes. "You are such a downer."

"There's so much shit in my room that you go through already. I don't need you meddling in my really personal stuff."

Eva raised a brow. "They're from Ellie aren't they?"

Rosetta scoffed. "Of course they are. Just back off."

She snorted. "Okay."

She then left Rosetta's room and now that she had the unopened letters in her hand, she figured it was high-time to actually read them.

They weren't much longer then the first but they were more in depth, more.... loved. Not just Ellie spilling her guts on her romantic feelings, but like the letters had been cared for, giving up every little detail. They were intricate and made Rosetta feel known.

Rosetta read through the second letter.

"Dear Rosetta,

There's stories of people who are in love being each other's half. Like a perfect match creating a perfect balance. But somehow, I love you and I don't think that's the case. When it's just us, I feel like love takes over completely. There's no balance to it. Maybe someday there will be but there's none now and as much as I hate being drowned in my own feelings, I can't help but love the feeling of loving you. I won't lie, both of us have our rough patches. You let little things and everyone's opinions swarm you, a people pleaser, and act out because of it. I don't know how to really convey my feelings through talking, hence this letter. I'm not great at communicating and let things boil over because I don't know when it's best to talk and it leads to some major fuck ups. We often trip and stumble and fall but we can do it together. We've been doing it together as best friends since we were babies and I'd like to do it now in a new way, a romantic way, as we turn into adults and start lives for ourselves. I always want you to be part of my life and I want to find our balance.  
XOXO

Ellie."

Rosetta put it back in its envelope and took out the third and final one, nearly crying.

"Dear Rosetta,

We have our flaws, definitely true, but you also have hundreds and hundreds of amazing pieces to you. I love how you love things unapologetically. And I love you despite your flaws. I love you because of them. Rosetta you love music and I love it when you just let it consume you. You go into seemingly a different world and don't care what's around you and it's a beautiful thing. You're pretty and smart and kind and courageous and so dedicated and loyal even if it doesn't matter. You may have a little bit of a temper but it makes you all the better. I love how when you smile your nose scrunches up. I love how you're covered in freckles and I can't even begin to list how many times I've connected them like constellations. I love how you carve your own path and I love how when you laugh and sing and talk it fills the room, seeping into every crack and sealing it like you healed it. I love how you look when you're dressed casually or not and I love how when you draw and write music you stick your tongue out a little. I love how you put little onesies on Pudge and give him hats too. I love how you're smart and funny and I love how you're the most beautiful person in the room every time without fail. Most of all I love how you support me and our friends no matter what and I love how even though we all know you 100 percent hate James, you still put up with him for me because you want me to be happy.

You do so much for me and for everyone because you love us and there's no other reason to it and it makes me love you even more.

XOXO

Ellie."

Rosetta slipped the letters back into the envelopes and put them in the drawer of her nightstand, wiping tears off her face. She then rummaged around her room for a paper and a pencil, the materials for writing a letter. It was time she wrote Ellie one back.

As she finished and put the letter in an envelope, sealing it with a giant sticker she got from the doctor's office a few months ago, she was called down for dinner.


	33. The Ballad of Screw You Jack Part 6 (This Is a Very Long Ballad)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosetta talks to her parents about possibly changing schools.

Dinner was awkward and tense. Everyone knew what had happened and all of them tried to make Rosetta feel better about it. She appreciated the sentiment but hated it overall. She rarely had all the attention from her family to herself and she wasn't sure how to process it. If anything it just felt like they were pitying her as this was one of the few times this happened and of course she had to get hurt to get attention. Granted any family who had a hurt kid would give them all their love and attention, but for all the shenanigans Rosetta got herself into she never got hurt, spare for last summer when she broke her leg, she figured it was a bit of an extreme way to get it.

Rosetta pushed her food around her plate, not having much appetite. Her mom had made adobo, one of Rosetta's all time favorites, and yet she couldn't do much but look at it. She felt bad for it though it wasn't exactly in her control.

Rosetta didn't really feel like doing much but lying down in her room with music playing. It calmed her and made her feel a little better. Ellie's letters certainly helped too but other then that, she was miserable. She would be for a while. She was too upset to eat. Too upset to really sleep without outer assistance. Too upset to bring herself to do much of anything. Even writing the letter back to Ellie was a struggle as she wasn't in the proper mindset to write back.

It was frustrating when Rosetta wanted badly to tell Ellie how much she loved and cared for her but all she could think about was Jack and what had happened. She had dragged Ellie into so much and none of this would have happened if Rosetta had just shut her mouth like normally. If she had just shut herself in, then everyone would have been fine.

Rosetta walked away from the dinner table and went to her room quietly. For as much sleep she had gotten that day she was still tired. She had been running on energy drinks and coffee for the past few days as she hadn't been able to bring herself to sleep out of fear, leaving her exhausted and feeling like shit from all the caffeine and overall junk in her system.

"Setta you barely ate anything," Adrian pointed out. "You need to eat."

"I'm not really hungry," Rosetta mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, holding onto her own arms. She wasn't being very convincing.

"Can you at least go find something to snack on? You haven't eaten since this morning," Nova suggested.

"She was eating Cheeze-Itz in her room earlier," Eva said.

"Okay," Nova said, a little relieved. "As long as you've eaten something recently but I don't want you skipping meals."

Rosetta nodded and then slipped back upstairs. No one said anything as they were all just letting her do what she wanted. She assumed they all could tell how exhausted she was. When she passed the mirror in her room there were faint bags under her eyes and she just looked like she could fall apart with a single gust of wind. She sure as hell felt like it too.

She collapsed on her bed and laid down, Pudge laying on her before she pulled her blanket over her. However, she was still too anxious to sleep. She just wanted to sleep but still she was too nervous and upset to be able to do so. Rosetta had really been thrown off her balance and it was like her body couldn't decide what to do. All she could decide on was that this whole mess was her fault and it wouldn't have happened if she had never told Ellie how she felt.

Rosetta should have shoved it down. No one but herself could get hurt if she bottled everything up. Bad things always happened to her and at best she was a screw up. She didn't know how everything Ellie and her friends saw in her was enough to make them stay. It wasn't like anyone else was ever proud of her or wanted her. She only ever caused people to get hurt and maybe if she just buried things deeper and just was obedient and quiet that wouldn't happen. Maybe then people might think she had worth; if she just did what they wanted. If she just did what her family wanted. If she had done that from the start then she never would have met Jack anyways and this whole mess wouldn't have existed.

But at least she had Pudge. He was always a good cat and he couldn't exactly get hurt by her decisions. He was really all Rosetta had in the end. He would never leave her or feel disappointed by her. He would always love and protect her. Because he was a cat and he was loyal and that's what animal companions were like.

She reached out to pet him but instead he scurried away and tried to bite at her feet which were under the covers. He did this often.

"Setta?" Her dad called up. "Are you in your room?"

"Yeah!" She said back, talking as much as she could muster.

"Come down here please," he requested.

"Okay."

Rosetta slid off her bed and opened the door to the little landing. At the base of the stairs was Adrian and he waved for her to come.

She already knew that they probably wanted to talk more about what happened, chipping away at everything progressively to make sure she didn't crumble with one wrong tap.

Rosetta sat on the bed in her parents room, not really bothering to move the hair that had fallen over her eyes. She didn't have enough energy to really do much at the moment. Both of her parents took one of her hands in their own, smiling at her gently.

"What is this?" Rosetta asked, eyeing them suspiciously. She didn't have a doubt that it was about the situation with Jack but she had a feeling that she was betting more then she bargained for with this talk.

"Obviously," Nova started. "You've been through a lot over these past few days and we think it'd be a good idea to take a break from everything and focus on your mental health."

"Like therapy?"

"That's one of the things we've been looking into, yes," Nova admitted. "But there's another."

"Setta.... the final decision is up to you but.... we think it might be better for you if you finished your senior year in a school other then GATA," Adrian told her. "That way you can be away from all of it until you're better and can handle it."

It was like a punch to the gut but so, so, so much worse.

"What!" Rosetta asked in horror, a pit forming in her stomach and tears welling up at the idea of having to leave GATA.

"We just don't think it's very safe for you there anymore after all of this and we don't necessarily know how well you're going to react to when you go back," Nova said, moving to calm her down.  
Maybe they were worried she'd have a full on meltdown if she had to go back to where she found out that she was outed and had essentially been stalked at school. It was understandable, but if there was anything Rosetta couldn't handle, it was changing schools again.

When she changed middle schools she had been miserable. She had tried to make new friends in the first new school but someone had decided to tell everyone that she got kicked out for hurting another kid which wasn't true. That only made Rosetta's life even more miserable because she was completely alone which led to another incident and another new school. There she just kept her head down.

But GATA was a safe place for her despite everything. They wanted her. She had friends there. Friends who would help her get through this even though she could never understand why they would stick around. She would lose that if she changed schools again.

Even more so, she was her own person there. She wasn't just Nightmare and the Sentinel's kid. She wasn't just Valerie's little sister or Eva's big sister. She wasn't the school psycho as she had once been dubbed in the seventh grade. She was just Rosetta and no one else and she didn't want to lose that too.

The second she changed schools all of that would resurface. Someone would figure out why she changed schools and she'd be on her own again. Then Eva would hate her once more like when Rosetta had to keep changing middle schools.

Aside from the problem with Jack, her senior year was great. She had been having fun and enjoyed her classes and teachers. No one made fun of her or asked rude questions about her family. She wasn't compared to her sisters or family members and was completely free to do what made her happy.

Despite what had happened with Jack, GATA was a safe place for Rosetta. It was a safe haven and always had been. It gave her somewhere to fall back on with people to fall back on and she needed it now more than ever.

She couldn't change schools.

"No!" She sobbed. "No no no no no no no!"

Nova wrapped her arms around her "Baby it's alright-"

"You can't pull me out! I'm almost finished with the year! I don't want to have to change schools again!" Rosetta wailed, big tears proceeding to roll down her cheeks once more as she shoved herself away from both her parents.

Changing schools was just as horrifying as what had happened to her this morning and in a way, worse, because it would be dragged out for months.

"Okay," Adrian rushed to say, seeing how bad she was reacting. "It's okay. You don't have to change schools if you don't want to. It was just a suggestion sweetheart."

He cradled her, pressing a kiss to her head, both him and Nova doing their best to calm her down before she had a mental breakdown again.

Rosetta nodded and sniffled, wiping her face.

"But something that's not negotiable is going to therapy. I know it might seem a little scary and you don't always like to talk but I think it'll be good for you. And we're going to keep you out of school for a bit in general. Your grandparents are going to watch you tomorrow alright," Nova said, squeezing Rosetta's hand.

She nodded. Therapy and a break from school would probably be a good thing. She was glad she was finally able to take a breath and she wouldn't have to rely on her friends for help anymore. She didn't want to put that burden on them but she had been too afraid to ever ask her parents because she didn't want them to feel bad.

"Can I sleep in here with you guys?" Rosetta asked.

"Of course," Adrian said, making space for her. "Whatever makes you feel safest and more comfortable."

She just curled up right against her dad, happy to be held by her parents for once. Some days she really needed it and this was one of those days.

Nova POV

If there was one thing that Nova thought would be definite, it was that none of her children would ever have to be scared in any situation like she had always been. She thought she would never have to be scared again either. She thought she had made sure of that.

Nova had even become a lawyer to help kids in abusive homes and situations. Kids didn't deserve to be hurt in any way, shape, or form.

But when she got the phone call about Rosetta her blood ran cold. She hadn't felt that terrified for ages and it only worsened at how she knew Rosetta must have felt. The situation itself was horrifying, to have someone attack you like that.

And worst of all she couldn't help Rosetta. Nova wasn't there to keep her safe when it happened and all she could do now was try to comfort her as she cried. It broke her heart that Rosetta had gotten hurt like this. And it broke her heart again that there wasn't anything she could do to make her feel better.

Eventually, Rosetta fell asleep, eyes red and puffy with a tear streaked face. She was holding onto them in her sleep like they were the only thing in the world, curled up in the big blanket on Adrian's lap. She looked so small and she must have felt like it too.

Neither Nova nor Adrian said anything when she was asleep, instead staying still and holding her. If it's what Rosetta wanted then they would gladly give it to her. Anything to make her not feel so scared.

After about an hour, knowing she was definitely asleep, they moved, laying her down on the bed and taking turns staying with her so the other could shower and get ready for bed. This way in case she woke up, violently or peacefully, someone was there for her.

They also wanted to give her control over the situation as much as possible, letting her decide if she wanted to change schools. Nova would have thought that at the very least, Rosetta would want that. It'd be a fresh start away from all of it, a breath of fresh air though it would be very abrupt and in the middle of her last year of high school, not necessarily a good time to restart.  
However, clearly that wasn't going to happen as she looked like a scared deer in headlights the second it was mentioned, freaking out. Once Rosetta came out and Nova realized that she had been hiding it, she had also wondered how much Rosetta had gone through alone. And she had hid her powers from them too. All revelations only furthered Nova's opinion that Rosetta needed to go to therapy. That was the only part of any of this that wasn't negotiable for Rosetta.

Even who knew what happened was something that was up to her. Obviously they told Eva and Valerie and family to a degree, saying that she got hurt at school. But Adrian and Nova wanted to let Rosetta have some sort of control over the situation. If she wanted to tell people that was fine. If she didn't that was fine too. It was up to her.

That and she deserved a chance to come out as gay to her family on her own terms. Rosetta sort of had to tell Adrian and Nova that she was gay and what happened so they could understand the full story and even though she told them, it wasn't fully her decision. Letting her tell people as many details as she wanted was the least they could do for her. However, to be fair, it wasn't like no one had ever considered that Rosetta wasn't straight. Nova had heard Girl in Red and Willow playing way too many times from Rosetta's bedroom to ever think that.

Of course, despite all that, Nova wished that Rosetta would listen to them when they told her to consider pressing charges before. It would make sure that Jack stayed the hell away from her and as with his powers, the only way to keep him away was in a type of prison where his powers weren't much good. She still didn't think anyone deserved to have their powers taken away, but she could see very clearly why making sure people couldn't use them in some situations was helpful. Several correction centers were built to help weaken powers, not take them away while they worked with the inmates to become better people with professionals prepared for all situations.

Nova wrapped Rosetta up in her blanket and gave her the stuffed cow that had been by her side since she was a baby before having her lay down. She laid beside her, pulling her onto her lap and holding her tightly as she fell asleep.

Nova felt best with having Rosetta in her room where she could not only keep her safe but keep an eye on her as well anyways, even though Rosetta had chosen to sleep there. Rosetta was shaken over what had happened and despite her nap, Nova wasn't sure if her sleep would be without nightmares and from that, the need to throw up. She had seen the photos of what had happened from the school's documentation of it and there was a sickening amount of blood everywhere. She only hoped that Rosetta's friends were doing alright after finding her in such a state.  
Rosetta shook a bit, whimpering in her sleep. She started moving and Nova woke her up.

"Sweetie did you have a nightmare about what happened?" Nova asked, gently wiping tears off of Rosetta's face with her thumb.

Rosetta nodded, giving Nova the biggest brown eyes she had ever seen. She looked so terrified as she buried herself into Nova's arms.

Nova held her close and kissed the top of her head.

"I know it's scary," Nova told Rosetta. "But I promise it'll be alright. You're safe. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."

"Mom can you put me to sleep?" Rosetta asked quietly.

"Are you sure?" She asked. She didn't want to knock her out and have her sleep for way too long.

Rosetta nodded, pulling her legs to herself as well as her stuffed cow.

"Goodnight Setta," Nova told her, planting a kiss on her head and putting her to sleep. 

Rosetta's eyes drooped and shut. Her breathing steadied and her body relaxed noticeably. For the moment, she looked calm and it was enough to satisfy Nova at the moment.

"Is she doing any better?" Adrian asked as he settled on the bed, just coming out of the bathroom after his shower.

"I had to wake her up and knock her out," Nova sighed. "She was having bad dreams about it."

He frowned and moved closer to them, helping balance Rosetta across their laps. It didn't seem to wake her up which was a good sign. Still, it meant little in the grand scheme of things.

"It's like she's a baby all over again." Adrian said quietly as they held her. It made Nova laugh a little.

When Rosetta was especially small, one of them would often just hold her until she fell asleep. She was a pretty easy baby and it didn't take long for them to get her to go down for a nap or bedtime. All they would do was sit down and let her curl up in their lap with her stuffed cow and her toy piano and then they'd be able to put her to bed soon after. Neither of them had ever really minded. A few minutes of letting Rosetta cuddle with them every night was far better then dealing with the fight that Eva and Valerie would put up each time, the two of them always stubborn about going to bed. But Rosetta would actively go to them and ask for help getting ready for bed if she felt that she wasn't being put to bed at her normal time.

She had always been a gentle and sweet girl. She was not someone who deserved any of this to happen to her and Nova felt like part of this mess was her fault. She had always assumed that Rosetta wasn't straight but didn't push or pry. She had figured that Rosetta knew that she didn't need to state it since most of her family wasn't straight and even if she did want to say it, Rosetta's sexuality was her business and it was completely up to her when and how to come out.

Nova hadn't realized that it was because she was scared. If she had only talked to her more she might have been able to make her feel more comfortable and safe and solve the problem. But Rosetta hardly talked. She had always been quiet and mostly just talked with her friends. She wasn't going to make her uncomfortable in any way and Nova wasn't going to push her to talk if she didn't want to either, even if it was something as bad as this.

But maybe if she had, then Nova could have protected her. She would take her child being safe and protected no matter what any day then to have had this happen.

There was another part of Nova that was absolutely bursting with questions that she knew not to ask. Both Adrian and her realized early on to the situation that it was very possible that Rosetta would be back on oxygen again.

When she was little she needed it and it was never supposed to be permanent. It was a temporary situation for a few years while doctors helped her continue to develop her lungs. There was a prodigy doctor she saw every year, and still saw to this day, that had helped her slowly develop them, using powers and technology to help.

However, if something were to happen to Rosetta, it was very much possible that there would be setbacks in all that progress. And that was a question on everyone's mind.

Of course it didn't matter at all. She was still just as capable as anyone else; she just occasionally needed an extra boost and there was nothing wrong with that. It was just that Nova figured that Rosetta wouldn't exactly be happy with that.

But now it seemed like Rosetta wouldn't need any of that anymore if she figured out how to control her powers. She couldn't help but wonder what Rosetta had done with her powers in the past without realizing it.

Nova's mind was racing with the possibilities. For so long they had all thought Rosetta had no powers but it turned out that she had all the power in the world.

There was also the question of why Rosetta hadn't said anything about her powers if she had known about them for a while now. Nova assumed it was because she was trying to figure them out first or, knowing her daughter, might have completely forgot and only told them when it became relevant.

"Nova?" Adrian asked. "Are you going to sleep tonight?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" She questioned, lying down.

"I know when you're more defensive you don't like to sleep so I just wanted to make sure you were feeling okay too. I mean I'm absolutely enraged that this happened to Rosetta but I figured this might be more hard on you."

Her husband was well aware of how all the gears in her mind were turning. He was well aware of all the bad emotions it would bring up based off of her upbringing and early life.  
She smiled softly, reaching out and taking his hand. "Thank you for checking on me and obviously I want to know how you're feeling but right now I think we both need to be stable for her."  
"That would probably be smart."

Nova kissed his hand and then settled herself on the bed, Rosetta falling right between them. Both her and Adrian held her close, cocooning her between them.

Seeing her husband and daughter both fall asleep and look peaceful calmed Nova and soon after them, she too was able to go to bed.


	34. Start a Fight With Your Grandparents Like Every Leftists Grandchild in A Family of Conservatives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon and Hugh watch Rosetta for the afternoon while she heals from her injuries

Adrian had called Simon and Hugh the day prior asking them to come over the next day to watch Rosetta. Both him and Hugh were obviously horrified about what had happened to their granddaughter, but Simon couldn't exactly say why or what happened, only the horrible result.

Still, he was deeply disturbed by what had happened to her and wasn't sure what to expect from watching her. Nova and Adrian had warned them that she most likely would be in a bad mood or just be aloof as she had always been unpredictable, a loose canon in all aspects.

Rosetta wasn't even awake when they got there, still asleep.

"Where is Rose exactly?" Hugh asked Adrian when they got there. He was gathering the last of his things to go to work, Nova and Eva already out of the house.

"In her room upstairs," Adrian said. "She can't sleep without help even though she looks so tired that she might pass out any second. We woke her up earlier to take her medicine and eat something before she went back to bed. It'll probably be a while before she wakes up but just check in on her every hour or so."

Fortunately, there was no need for that as shortly after Adrian left, Rosetta woke up. She looked tired and defeated despite only being 18. She may have just became an adult legally but she was still just a kid. Simon didn't even know what had happened to her but if it left her looking like a shell of herself the next day, he knew no one deserved it. 

Especially not Rosetta. 

Despite Rosetta's worn down state, it didn't mean that watching her was going to be as easy as they anticipated either.

Simon and Hugh hadn't even been watching Rosetta for more then ten minutes when she came in to the living room with an announcement.

"Alright I just took 15 ibuprofen to numb out the pain and to see if I can hallucinate a little to keep myself entertained. This is your warning."

"You took-"

"Calm down. I've done this before. My limit is 28. I'm not stupid. I've tested this out before. I just thought you should both know that I am going to be acting whack soon enough before I pass out completely."

"You've done this before?" Hugh asked, extremely alarmed.

Rosetta just shrugged and sat in a chair, leaning back casually as if she hadn't done anything. "Let's see what happens this time."

Usually, Simon thought Rosetta's antics were hilarious. Falling off the roof for a clementine was one of the funniest situations he had ever heard. Of course, most of the time he wasn't dealing with them first hand and when he heard about what she'd done, he was enjoying the karma being sent to his son and daughter-in-law. Their teenaged years were chaotic to say the least and when their genetics combined of course at least one of their kids turned out to be one of the most rambunctious and insane person that existed.

She reminded him a lot of Georgia.

Even then, Rosetta acting up was a very recent thing and she was normally a very quiet person who kept to herself and didn't do anything to cause problems. Either it was a phase or they had all wildly underestimated her for a while and it was all catching up now, though she had always been unpredictable with how she handled situations and sometimes said the most chaotic things Simon had ever heard. She was usually completely silent and kept to herself until she would say one or two absolutely insane things and go back to silence, just to spice things up and cause drama he assumed.

Regardless, now that he had to deal with her himself, he could only think that this was the most absurd thing he had ever had to put up with and he could not wait until either Nova or Adrian came home.

Why on Earth Rosetta had thought it was a good decision to take 15 ibuprofens, even with the several reasons she listed, Simon had no idea. There was nothing smart or safe about taking 15 ibuprofens.

The fact that she had said she had done this before and tested her limits as well blew his mind but at the same time, it was a comfort. If she had done this previously and was fine then she would be fine once more. They just had to keep an eye on her until then but as long as she didn't need to go to the hospital again then they could manage it.

"Okay," Simon said. "We can handle this. She's done this before she can do it again and this isn't the worst thing that we've dealt with. Remember that time Georgia was sick and then proceeded to drink half a bottle of Nyquil because she was too impatient to wait for it to kick in?"

Hugh sighed. "I think this is worse then when Georgia drank a bottle of Nyquil. She was a full grown adult. This is a 18 year old girl."

He made a fair point. Rosetta was constantly a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode with some sort of shenanigan. There was no telling what she could do with all the ibuprofen in her system, even if she was a relatively quiet and timid person.

"You know I'm sitting right here and I can hear you right?" Rosetta pointed out, brow raised.

"Yes we are aware," Hugh told her.

She was relishing in the situation. Like Simon suspected, she liked to cause a little drama and then just watch everything unfold from time to time. Obviously not too much but she clearly got a kick out of watching people squirm.

"I'm your problem now," she laughed wickedly.

He didn't like how she phrased it because she wasn't a problem. She was definitely causing problems but she herself wasn't one.

"I'll text Nova and Adrian and see what they want us to do," Simon said.

He pulled out his phone, finding their group message. Valerie had made it and added her sisters, her parents, and them into it.

Me: So Rosetta just took 15 ibuprofens and I'm pretty sure she's slowly getting high? Anything you want us to do?

Me: She says she's done this before and she'll be fine but I have no idea what to even expect.

Nova: I had no idea that she had done that before but there's a list on the fridge of things she's not allowed to have on her own and I'm going to ask that you write over the counter medicine on it.

Adrian: She'll be fine. She took a bunch of ibuprofen when she broke her leg last summer and she just continued on normally. A little loopy but relatively okay. Also that might not last more then an hour because she'll just get tired and go to bed.

Simon sighed, putting his phone away. "They say she'll be fine and she did this when she broke her leg and was just a little loopy. Also we have to add over the counter medicine to a list of things she can't have on the fridge."

"Alright. I guess watching her should be easy now then," Hugh said, nodding solemnly.

"Hugh, we've already failed at watching her in ten minutes and we raised two children."

Rosetta scoffed from where she sat. "One of them lived in a glass box for ten years and was impaled and the other was a secret vigilante who gave himself tattoos and married a war criminal who you tried to execute when she was 17. Don't flatter yourselves. Your track record with children isn't exactly five stars," she pointed out.

She wasn't necessarily wrong and that ticked him off the most but he was happy that she was actually talking instead of hiding herself away in silence, even if it meant borderline insults. It must have been all the ibuprofen because either she had finally snapped, now no longer having anything to hide, or the ibuprofen was keeping her from whatever silence she stayed in.

Simon went to the kitchen and as Nova had said, stuck to the fridge with a magnet was a yellow lined slip of paper with a list of things Rosetta was not allowed to have with her alone.

"- Kiwis  
\- Popsicle sticks  
\- Any type of seasoning or spice on it's own" the list read.

Simon had no idea what series of events lead to her not being able to have these things or how many times it had to have happened before they wrote it down, but he added over the counter medicine to the paper anyways. The only thing he knew about the list was why she couldn't have over the counter medicine and the ban of kiwis was probably because she was allergic to them.

Rosetta was deathly allergic to them, her throat almost closing when she was little after she had one for the first time. It had not been a fun day for anyone and she got to stay in the hospital for two nights. But she was older now and people tended to grow out of allergies as they got older so it was easy for anyone to picture Rosetta eating one to see if her being allergic still held true as she loved kiwi.

As they had been told, Rosetta sat in a chair in the corner, arms crossed as she stared into space, having no doubt lost interest in what was happening a few minutes ago. It wasn't a new thing as often times with her ADHD she had the tendency to disassociate if she didn't have an interest to over-focus on.

"I'm going to go see how many safety pins I can hang off my face," she said suddenly, standing up and heading upstairs.

Simon didn't think he could even stop her if he tried. Hugh seemed to understand that as well.

"I'll make sure she doesn't hurt herself," Hugh said, beginning to follow her.

"Jesus Christ," Rosetta huffed. "It's safety pins not fucking heroin needles. I'm just putting them in my piercings. I do this all the time. You really think I'll get hurt with safety pins when I pretty much got stabbed in the stomach yesterday? Why don't you two both take 15 ibuprofens and just relax for a minute?"

"No. We're not doing that," Hugh said.

"Well you have a stick up your ass half the time so maybe you should."

Simon tried to stifle his laughter as Hugh sighed. He couldn't tell if she was saying this because of the ibuprofen or not but regardless it was funny to him. Rosetta, while having normally been quiet, always had a sharp tongue and was a jokester. Now that she was getting older, it was becoming more apparent every time they saw her and Simon could see a lot of both her parents in her.

The sarcasm was definitely from her mother. That was obvious as their personalities were very similar. However, there was a lot of Adrian there too. He had a sneaking suspicion that there was quite a bit Rosetta was hiding and while he wasn't sure what, he knew there was something and that reminded him most of Adrian. Nova had one secret while Adrian had kept multiple like where he had put Max, his tattoos, and that he was the Sentinel. Rosetta getting her tattoo only solidified how similar to Adrian she was and often times everyone compared Rosetta to Nova which was more obvious but not as strongly there.

Rosetta then came downstairs with Hugh a little while later, Pudge appearing and following too.

"The answer is 49. At least 49 without all the weight adding up and hurting me," Rosetta said happily.

Simon wasn't surprised. She had two nose piercings but her ears were covered in metal constantly. He also noted that she had a safety pin in several of her piercings still. There was one in her septum, and three on her ears total, one in each of her main piercings and one going through her cartilage.

"How many piercings do you have?" Hugh asked, taking a seat on the couch beside Simon, putting an arm around his shoulder.

Rosetta began counting on her fingers, adding it up in her mind.

"17," she announced proudly. "But that's if we're counting each hole as it's own and not pairing them because two holes line up."

"How did you even get so many?"

"There's a tattoo and piercing shop by my school."

"Is that where the tattoo is from as well?" Simon questioned.

All he knew about it was that when she came over for Christmas dinner, there was a tattoo on her right hand and part of her wrist that hadn't been there when he saw her a month prior.

"No. I did it myself. I found my dad's old tattoo kit a few days into break and just went for it. My parents didn't mind and honestly they can't get mad when my dad gave himself tattoos as 16 but I did it a month before turning 18."

Simon laughed at the thought. It was karma and Adrian deserved it. Nova, despite having caused far more damage, didn't as all her actions were more of karma on him and the other original Renegades if he was being honest.

It was impressive though. Rosetta's tattoo wasn't the most intricate of designs but it was still very detailed with winding snakes over her fingers and a raven at her palm, flowers and vines filling in the other space. All of it was on what had to be a very painful place to have a tattoo and he knew that tattoos would scab and itch as well and that was most likely very far from ideal to have on one's hand, even if it wasn't her dominant hand but, she was a musician and he could see that making her trade difficult.

"So what exactly happened to cause all this?" Hugh asked. Neither of them had necessarily been told much, just that Rosetta got a concussion but they could now see that there was more to that, noticing the faint bruises on her face and the stitches through her brow.

"I got my fucking shit rocked," Rosetta said, a little pissed off.

"Language," Hugh warned.

She scowled at him and she looked exactly like her mom.

"I can swear as much as I want based on the fact that I have stitches on my face and stomach and a concussion and I just started my period this morning thank you very much," She snapped. "But since everyone is so keen on knowing, a boy who hates me used his prodigy powers to stalk me, found out I was gay and dating my friend Ellie, made me uncomfortable to the point of a meltdown and did it the one time none of my friends were around. When I said no to hanging out with him he outed me and Ellie to the whole school and then harassed us about it and got too aggressive so Ellie lost control over her powers because he was going to hurt me and it resulted in a shelving unit collapsing on me."

"A lot to unpack there," Simon said, digesting every thing that she said. It was gruesome at best.

"Yeah so why don't we just burn the whole suitcase because I'm not diving into it."

It was no wonder Nova and Adrian warned them that she was going to be a wild card of moods today. What she had told them was horrific and he knew she was just scratching the surface. Simon also didn't blame Adrian and Nova for letting Rosetta tell people however much she wanted about the situation on her own terms. What happened to her was bad enough and she didn't need people digging through her business. She also deserved a chance to tell people she was gay on her own terms after being outed to her school which Simon and Hugh both knew was it's own horror.

Simon couldn't necessarily say he was surprised that Rosetta was gay though. It wasn't exactly hard to tell as she lacked the art of subtly when it came to hiding it. She liked Janelle Monae in the Hidden Figures movie when she was little way too much to be straight. That and the way she dressed and acted and how she sat made it easy for Simon to figure out that his granddaughter was as straight at her coiled hair.

"Probably not the way you wanted to come out but I'm happy that you are out now," Hugh said, trying to be encouraging. Rosetta needed it after the hell that she had been through.

"I would have come out a long time ago had it not been for him. I love you guys but the media is always in your business and if they even saw you supporting me in any way I'd be dead. Not like I was particularly great at hiding it. I mean I have piercings, a tattoo, wear six inch platform boots everyday, and go to an art school."

"Yeah it wasn't exactly hard to tell no offense."

She shrugged and sat down in a chair, one leg propped up and the other outstretched as she slumped back, Pudge jumping on her lap.

"It's whatever. I don't really care," Rosetta said, cutting off the conversation before it got off the ground anymore. She was making it clear it wasn't something she wanted to talk about and Simon knew very well that she was lying about not caring.

It wasn't long before Rosetta spaced out, stopping the conversation entirely and forcing them to just let her be.  
It was the most she had ever talked in one sitting without having her rant about one of her hyper-fixations. Either she was completely quiet or couldn't stop talking and more and more often as she got older she was quiet.

But the amount she had spoken to them today, even if it was due to the ibuprofen, was an improvement.  
Eventually she just fell asleep in the chair she curled up in. Hugh had gone to pick her up to put her in her bed upstairs but her cat had jumped in front, not letting him touch her. Hugh wasn't a big fan of Pudge or cats in particular so they just let her be. Both of them had tried to get along with her pet but it seemed the cat did not want to befriend many more people and didn't like anyone outside the immediate family or Rosetta's friends.  
The poor girl slept the rest of the time Simon and Hugh watched her. She was still passed out in the chair by the time Nova got home and at that point, there were a lot of questions that needed to be answered.


	35. Rosetta Finally Gets A Hug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrian arguing with Hugh and Simon and Rosetta beginning to dig into the depths of what Jack has done to her.

Rosetta woke up suddenly, snuggled in the chair with her blanket and cat. She had yet another nightmare about what happened with Jack. She just felt like he was always around the corner even if she knew that wasn't true because she was preventing that with her powers.

Rosetta wiped the tears off of her face and tried to take some deep breaths but she still felt miserable from the nightmare.

She could hear her dad and grandparents talking quietly in the kitchen, trying not to wake Rosetta up most likely.

"Do you think that Rose will finally have powers or need her oxygen pack again?" Simon asked.

"Setta just figured out her powers. She can manipulate probability," Adrian replied.

"I told you she was just as powerful as Georgia," Hugh said. "I wonder if she'll stop music and do something else with it then. I would sure hope so."

"If it makes Setta happy," Adrian said.

Rosetta's blood boiled immediately and she wanted to scream but all that happened was her crying harder then she already was from the aftermath of her bad dream.

While she had powers now and while she didn't need her oxygen pack now, everyone was acting like either of those things were a problem. Her whole life she had been told that those things didn't matter and her family still loved her and was still proud of her and of course they still loved her, but Rosetta could tell that she had let them down by not meeting those expectations. She had let everyone down.

How dare they have the audacity to see her get hurt in such a way and then ask if she had any powers yet and then ask if she needed her oxygen pack again. How dare they just constantly compare Rosetta to a person she had never even met before. How dare they suggest that she give up music and tell her what to do with the powers they just found out about.

It was like those were the only things that ever mattered to them.

She was more then not having powers and needing breathing assistance. She was more then just a copy of her grandmother. And everyone told her that but no one could act like it.

When she was little, kids wouldn't let her play with them. Her sisters were more or less forced to play with her and she could tell, even then, that some days they minded that they were some of her only playmates, as if it was her fault. The only people who ever played with Rosetta was Ellie and Beck. They were some of the only people who ever listened to her too.

And of course her parents and family had every right to be concerned about her oxygen pack. Any family would be. While her having an oxygen pack didn't make her any lesser of a person, she still needed to be treated differently to address those glaring differences she had so she wouldn't get hurt. But she didn't like how her grandparents had to ask her parents if she needed it again, as if Rosetta wasn't capable of knowing that for herself. Like she was so helpless she couldn't tell.

Everyone liked to be concerned and baby her when it came to her oxygen pack and her powers but when it came down to supporting her in any other way, like her music career, they didn't care. They couldn't care.

Her whole family told her it was okay to be different but Rosetta couldn't help but see that they clearly wished she wasn't different. They just wanted her to be exactly like Georgia, a replacement for her, but it just was never going to happen. Rosetta understood that they missed her, but she wasn't coming back and it had been years. They needed to understand that Rosetta was her own person.

And for ages she let it get to her head. She still let it get to her head. When she was younger, she knew she didn't have anything other then music. She wasn't a prodigy and she wasn't the greatest at school. By that point she had learned that everyone liked her better when she shut up instead of talked so it's not like she had good grades in participation.

But she tried hard anyway. She tried to be a good kid like everyone wanted and Rosetta did it all by herself just so she could say she did it on her own so her parents would be proud that she could be good in school without help. That she could be good at something without help. That she could be good.

It never really worked that much and she was too stubborn to do more then ask Beck and Ellie for assistance. She would do her best to appease what everyone wanted from her and still it failed, always getting bad report cards and her teachers always saying that while she was a perfectly nice girl, she just wasn't a good student.

Rosetta was never stupid either. She just needed the lessons to slow down a little and was a bad test taker. She always thought she understood the directions but misinterpreted everything.  
By the time she had finished 8th grade, most likely a miracle to her family, she was done trying to keep up the façade and act like everything was okay. Rosetta knew that if she kept it up, she might not have actually been able to survive high school. It wasn't an exaggeration either.

She knew she just needed to follow with music and go to where people who were like her were. She was going to fail her parents either way, so she might as well have stopped caring and just did what made her happy. She wasn't a prodigy and now that she was, all anyone wanted her to be was a superhero, to throw music, what she had poured her life into, all away.

It wasn't like Rosetta could really express this either. She struggled to talk to people outside her friend group. She was too self-conscious and even when she did, it was usually awkward and weird because she had spent so much time shutting herself in to make people happy that she never developed the social skills needed to talk to people. She had been awkward from the start and struggled to pick up on social cues so she never talked and therefore never progressed.

And of course now she had powers and of course it was still what they were worried about. They had forced her into the way she was and into thinking that music was wrong and only school mattered if she couldn't be a prodigy and now that she was they threw all that away like it wasn't ingrained in her.

Rosetta wondered if they were finally happy with her. If they were finally proud. But she knew they never would be. So long as she didn't shove herself into the mold that was given to her, she would never please her family.

Adrian noticed and came over to her, Hugh and Simon following, all of them concerned.

"Setta what's wrong? Did you have another nightmare?" He asked, pushing her hair out of her face.

Rosetta nodded and barreled into his arms and held onto her dad tightly, her head hiding in his shoulders. Hugh and Simon moved to comfort her but she jerked away and just clung more to her dad.

Rosetta was not happy with them, even if they didn't know why. That and she didn't really like so many people touching her at once for multiple reasons. She could deal with hugging family members when they came and went one at a time but she never really liked more then one person touching her at once unless it was her friend group or immediate family. Rosetta had always been that way, never really letting anyone outside of her household or her very close friends touch her.

Now more then every she did not want anyone outside those people touching her. She just couldn't handle it anymore at the moment. All she could think of was Jack and him trying to put an arm around her or him coming close to her to harm her. Her mind just went to his threats to turn her straight and how he was always in the background.

It was terrifying. Rosetta was terrified, always feeling like he was going to come out of the shadows and hurt her.

Hugh and Simon made a second attempt to console her but she just thrashed at their touch, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Don't touch me," Rosetta wailed.

"Why? What did we do?" Hugh asked, a little offended.

Adrian shot them a look and it took them by surprise. 

"Just leave her alone. It doesn't matter why. It's not a hard request and if it makes her feel better then I'm going to ask that you listen."

"But why-"

"It's not up for debate," Adrian said coldly. 

Rosetta didn't think she had ever seen him so upset with his dads, let alone anyone, before. Her parents never argued in front of her and her sister's and they never raised their voices or yelled either. Whenever they messed up or caused trouble, Rosetta and her sisters were met with compassion and calmness to help them figure out how to make things right. This was completely unlike her dad.

Rosetta covered her ears. The noise was overwhelming. She often found that when she wasn't in control of the noise it could easily become too much for her so she'd wear headphones to drown everything out. It was just another reason why music was so important to her. In every single way it was a safe haven for her.

"Why don't you go to your room and calm down," Adrian suggested to her. "I'll be up soon okay pumpkin."

"Okay," Rosetta said shakily, wiping her face and standing up.

She moved past them all and took her things before going to her room, Pudge following behind and not letting Hugh and Simon near her.

She could hear Adrian talking with Hugh and Simon downstairs and then heard them leave. Her dad wasn't happy with them at all and told them to just leave Rosetta be because she was going through a lot at the moment and her comfort was worth more then their feelings over something so trivial.

Rosetta sat on her bed with Pudge on her lap, her plate and bowl of bread and jam appearing before her using her powers. She was hungry and it was comforting. She turned on some music on her phone, even though she technically wasn't allowed to be on screens, and mumbled the lyrics to the songs that showed up.

Adrian came to her room shortly after.

"You feeling okay sweetheart?" He asked, sitting beside her on her bed.

Rosetta nodded. "A little."

"Do you want to talk about the nightmare?" Adrian asked her.

She shook her head. "No."

"Do you want some water or anything like that?"

"No," Rosetta said, curling up in her blanket.

Her dad sighed. "Okay pumpkin. Well I'll come check up on you in a little bit."

"Okay," Rosetta said.

Adrian gave her a kiss on the head before tucking her in and leaving her room.

True to his word, her dad, and then her mom once she came home, would come to her room to check up on her, both before and after they had eaten dinner. Most of the check ins she ignored until she realized that Ellie and Beck could be on the train coming home. While Rosetta absolutely adored Beck, she also really wanted some alone time with Ellie and would have to ask her parents for her to come over as it wasn't like Rosetta could just text her.

The worst of the situation had happened to Rosetta but that didn't mean Ellie wasn't suffering from it either. Rosetta of course wanted to give her some time with her family but she also wanted to make sure Ellie was okay.

"Hey Dad," Rosetta said before he left her room, having come to check in on her.

"Yeah sweetheart?"

"Can I have Ellie over? Like not necessarily to stay the night or anything but I want to see her."

"Yeah of course. She's always welcome here. Do you need me to call and ask since you can't really do it yourself at the moment?"

Rosetta sighed and opened up her phone. "Yes please. Her contact is Pineapple and I wouldn't recommend looking at the previous conversations."

Adrian looked at her with wide eyes. "Rosetta you aren't sending each other anything inappropriate?"

She rolled her eyes. "No. Our conversations are just really weird and scarily absurd."

"So you just need me to ask if she wants to come over."

"Pretty much. Then tell me her response and also tell her to bring me back my rainbow hoodie. She borrowed it like over a month ago and I still haven't gotten it back and it's my favorite."

Her dad typed on her screen and then handed it back to her after a few minutes.

"She said she'll come over after she drops her things off at home.

"Okay. Thank you."

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and left her room.

**Author's Note:**

> There's more angst to come ;)


End file.
